Health Minister Speaks About Home-Care Funding Increases, Meets with Personal Support Workers

Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews recently visited Waterloo to promote the government’s decision to increase funding for home-based care services by four percent per year for three years.  However, in the town-hall meeting hosted by the Quality Care Alliance and the Service Employees International Union, Matthews was told by some personal support workers who work in the homes of clients who are elderly and disabled that they felt overworked and underappreciated.  Several personal support workers told the minister that they essentially felt like cheap labour.  One participant described herself as having the lowest paid college-educated job of all.

The issue of the wide discrepancy in pay between personal support workers in long-term-care facilities and those who work in home-based environments was brought up as well as the differences in the amount of time they have with clients.  Matthews acknowledged the discrepancies in both and noted that these were most likely the result of workers who work in the home-care environment not being unionized while those in long-term-care facilities are.  Matthews told the audience that she knew who was working their heart out in the healthcare system, and acknowledged that more needs to be done to support them.