Elderly in US stuck at homes as their aides seek higher-paying jobs: Report

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – The older adults in the US are stuck in their homes as their aides seek higher-paying jobs, said a report published by the major US daily on Monday.

The shortage of home-care workers that worsened further during the COVID pandemic led senior citizens to wait for long months to be assigned professional home-care aides, said the report by the US daily Washington Post.

According to the daily, this state of affairs threatened the independence of a generation of elderly Americans who had banked on aging in place rather than spending their late years in nursing homes.

Although the shortage predates the pandemic, it was aggravated as COVID-19 fueled the demand for home services due to lockdowns, it added.

The daily also said low-paid workers, including domestic aides, who are mostly women and people of color and among the lowest paid in the country, have quit for less taxing jobs in Amazon warehouses and as Uber drivers.

Speaking to the daily, Ruth Martynowicz, the chief operating officer for Michigan-based Trinity Health At Home company, stressed: “The crisis is real and won’t be quickly fixed. The shortage of health care workers is like nothing we’ve seen before.”