Transcript of Independent Perspective 1672 with Todd Vaarwerk about the Fair Pay for Home Care bills 

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of WNYIL, and I'm your host Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program Todd.

Guest:  Thank you Ernie.

Host:  You're here with us today because you're our resident expert on a particular problem affecting a lot of individuals with disabilities in the community. People have heard headlines in recent weeks about the great resignation, about how many people are leaving jobs looking for something better than they had. But people relying on home care attendants have been having this problem way before the great resignation. What sort of peril does this put people in and about how many people are we talking?

Guest:  Well, we're talking about statewide, we're talking about tens of thousands of people that are using some sort of community based home care in their home. And the problem with this is that there's been a hiring crisis for these folks for years even before the great resignation. And while we can have a conversation about the many factors about why that is, and I think we’ve done that in a previous show, I think that the thing that we’re talking about now is that we’ve got community groups kind of gathering regionally and looking at taking a stab at how to deal with this crisis in the next budget cycle. And that campaign is called Fair Pay for Home Care. Recently we had a community meeting about Fair Pay for Home Care where consumers told stories. And Fair Pay for Home Care is meant to redress the pay disparity for aide workers which is currently pretty much locked in at an area minimum wage right now. So as we’ve said in a previous show, aide workers can make more money at the fast food restaurant at the end of my block, than they can working for me. So in order to take care of that we're promoting a bill which is in both NY State houses at the moment that will set wages for homecare at 150% of the area minimum wage. So to provide an example, for Western NY where the area minimum wage is $12.50, this will make those wages available at somewhere in the neighborhood of $22 which would make them competitive jobs to enter into if people are looking to support their families.

Host:  Well, that really does make it look a little better than flipping burgers and fries.

Guest:  Well we’re not going to downplay the importance of fast food people being paid a living wage, it’s just a matter of recognizing as someone in my agency on a regular basis says people are hamburgers too. Very important to remember that all of these jobs are critical because at this point, if you’re not getting home care services, if you’re not getting community supports, you’re going back into a nursing home. And as we know from Covid, this isn’t a thing just about nursing homes not being great places to be, literally with Covid people are being placed at risk of death. So this is a life and death issue for people with disabilities in this community. So, yes, we’re doing a heavy push now to get local legislatures up to speed on it, because it is going to be something we’re going to be promoting as part of the budget discussion in 2022.

Host:  That sounds like a very vital effort for a great many individuals with disabilities who rely on homecare. I imagine that you'd appreciate the public support for these bills. But you probably don't want to rattle off a bunch of bill numbers and whatnot on the air because we're rapidly coming to the end of our time. How can people get a hold of you to get the information they need to support your efforts?

Guest:  They can always get a hold of me directly at WNYIL, 716-836-0822, my extension is 101.

Host:  We thank you very much for everything you're doing to try to help people get the services they need and be safe.

Guest:  Absolutely.

Host:  Thanks for being with us.

Guest:  Always a pleasure.

Host:  You've been listening to Independent Perspective a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of WNYIL and I’ve been your host Ernie Churchwell.