Direct Care News: What my culture taught me about caregiving

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For direct care workers and their allies

March 6, 2012

What My Culture Taught Me About Caregiving

Mohan Varghese

In India, where I am from, it is common for children to take care of the aging parents who took care of them when they were young. Parents generally stay with their eldest son, while daughters move away to live with their husbands and the husbands' families when they get married.

My responsibilities grew in a matter of few days at the age of 18, when my father came home after his first hospitalization after a stroke. As the eldest male in the family, it was my duty to take care of the family and bring home the bacon, so I quit my job with the Merchant Marine and moved back home. Read more from Mohan.

Direct from Washington, DC

Capitol HIll

House to hold hearing on proposed home care rule: The Workforce Protections subcommittee of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce is holding a hearing at 10 a.m. EST tomorrow on the proposed home care rule and how it will affect access to care. Learn more or listen to a live webcast during the hearing.

Proposed rule would extend FMLA leave to military families: The Department of Labor has issued a proposed rule that would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act for military family caregivers, making it easier for them to care for an ill or injured service member without fear of losing their jobs. Comments are due on April 16.

Don't Miss Your Chance to Make Your Voice Heard

Evelyn Coke

There's less than a week left to register your support for minimum wage and overtime pay for home care workers.

If you've been too busy to submit a comment yet, it just takes a minute or two to go to the DOL's comment submission page, fill out your name and contact information, and leave a sentence in the comment box. Here are a couple of suggestions:

I support the proposed home care rule.

Home care workers deserve minimum wage and overtime pay.

Don't miss your chance to make your voice heard!

Quick Links

Direct from the Headlines

Direct care workers Connie Kreider and Peg Ankney and DCA Director of Policy and Planning David Ward will be among the presenters at a national Quality Work, Quality Care home care conference on April 2 in Washington, D.C. Learn more and register.

Growing Home Care Industry May Have to Raise Pay, says Bloomberg Business Week.

Forbes reports on a PHI/SEIU conference on the growing role of home care aides.

The Direct Care Alliance is the national advocacy voice of direct care workers in long-term care. We empower workers to speak out for better wages, benefits, respect, and working conditions, so more people can commit to direct care as a career. We also convene powerful allies nationwide to build consensus for change.

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Please contact Elise Nakhnikian at 646-823-7434 or enakhnikian@directcarealliance.org.