I am President of Presbyterian Homes in the Presbytery of Lake Erie, located in NW PA. It is true that DCW’s from the nursing, dietary, housekeeping and all departments, all play a vital role in the physical and emotional security of our residents. In PA. there is no State Aide to reside in Personal Care unless you are poor enough to be entitled to SSI. They the facility gets around $30.00 a day for 24 hour a day care, 7 days a week, to care for a SSI resident.

Culture change is important to the health care industry along with any industry that is customer focused. Many of our DCW’s are single mom’s that receive no government assistance yet they decide to work for a living. If they could receive food stamps or gas cards it would make there life so much more pleasant consequently affecting their attitude toward their job and family.

The government raises the minimum wage but doesn’t change the financial reguirements to get assistance from the State. That doesn’t make sense. We were paying above the minimum wage before the mandate and still our DCW’s and entry positions are barely keeping their head above water.

Can’t some State/Federal assistance be given to these workers to help them maintain a reasonable quality of life. They are willing to work and they get all their State Aide stripped from them. In fact one worker told me that the case worker told her if you had another baby you could get assistance.

Just please give these people a hand up – so their families and particularly their children can purchase their school pictures and participate in meaningful activities. Consequently giving them a sense of pride, self confidence and positive look to the future.

Our DCW’s children are our DCW’s of the future in many situations.

Sincerely, Yvonne Atkinson