Over here at my new job at SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, health care workers across the state are locked in tight battles for healthcare for themselves and for every family in the Commonwealth. Last week, a major bill crossed the Governor's desk – banning mandatory overtime for nurses, certified nursing assistants, and the other bedrock health care professionals that keep us alive and thriving in hospitals or nursing homes. After a unanimous Senate vote and an overwhelming majority support vote in the House, the Governor signed it – forcing our health care institutions to hire enough workers to care for patients adequately, and keeping exhausted workers from making mistakes on the job.

And, while we're waiting until next term to continue the battle for the Governor's Prescription for Pennsylvania plan – bringing health care coverage to 800,000 Pennsylvanians, and fighting to prevent the hundreds of preventable deaths that happen to uninsured families every year in the state -- we can take action Thursday to hold Congress accountable to pass national health care reform! Hannah Miller has written eloquently on this Thursday's rally! See you there.

I'm working hard to support these campaigns, but my heart is especially invested in the struggle for home care workers, people with disabilities, and seniors across the state. I'm helping with a lot of efforts with the http://www.choosehomecare.org coalition – to establish a Consumer Workforce Council in Pennsylvania.

Even though Pennsylvania is the third oldest state in the nation and aging fast – we are far from ready to take care of our parents and grandparents as they retire and begin to need long term care. As Pennsylvania's Office of Long Term Living director, Michael Hall, puts it in this Letter to the Editor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this year, "A recent statewide poll showed that 92 percent of Pennsylvanians wish to receive long-term care in their homes. But, 82 percent of our state budget for long-term care goes to nursing homes ... and only 18 percent supports the home-based care and community services that Pennsylvanians are demanding. It's time for government to focus more resources on providing the services that our citizens really want."

Why do most people get forced into nursing homes for their long term care? Because home care is one of the hardest, and poorest-paid, jobs in the commonwealth. Workers commonly make $10 or $9/hr or less, with little to no benefits. Turnover is high, because home care attendants struggle to support families and move forward in their careers, even though they love their work – because they can't make the wages they need to stick with the jobs they love.

Seniors, people with disabilities, and home care workers across the state are all fighting to set up a Consumer Workforce Council to make sure everyone gets the choice of home care when they need support. What would the CWC do? If I'm providing support to my husband, sister, friend, or even a stranger, I can register with the state – and, along with thousands of other home care workers, be eligible for health care benefits and higher wages. In other states that have set up these councils, workers have earned more, states have gotten more bang for their buck out of their long term care budgets, and people who use home care have enjoyed less turnover and longer relationships with the home care workers who help them stay independent in their communities.

We have to work now to build the retainable, reliable workforce that people need across the state – for workers, and for home care consumers. Carol Jones has worked as a home care attendant in Washington, PA for over 10 years. Her home care consumer is her neighbor – a young lady hit by a car when she was 19, desperate to stay at home, but needing round the clock care. This young woman's parents worked long hours – so they needed Carol to support her. Carol was the rock of the family – always there – even after two home care aides left, looking for better paid and more sustainable work. While Carol was working 100+ hour weeks as the family's only support, she had a heart attack. While Carol was recuperating in the hospital, her client went to a nursing home – because she couldn't find the care she needs. The Consumer Workforce Council would provide backup to Carol and Carol's client's family – while also helping Carol get health insurance and better wages.

Karen Goroncy is a lifeline and a dear friend to Larry Smith, a young man living with cerebral palsy. She gets him out of bed, fixes his meals, and helps him work. Has she earned health care banefits for her trouble? Nope – just $10.30 an hour and a hernia, according to last Monday's Inquirer:

Goroncy, who earns $10.30 an hour, has a hernia from lifting clients like Smith for 25 years. She is 51.

She describes the pain as "a knife sticking in your stomach." Her doctor wants it repaired immediately. But she does nothing about it.

She says she can't afford to.

She has no health insurance.

"It's pretty sad that we take care of people and we can't even take care of ourselves," she said. "I'm going to fall apart and not be able to work. Somebody's going to have to take care of me."

Goroncy's boss, Mike Cogley, the executive director of Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living, said Goroncy is "an exemplary employee, the cream of the crop, a heart as big as all outdoors. I wish I could clone her."

Karen is fighting for the Consumer Workforce Council too – so home care aides like her can keep doing the jobs they love, without suffering pain and while bettering their lives.

And last week, German Parodi and Antonio Cancel told WFMZ – channel 69, Philly's Spanish language station – that as people with disabilities, they value their independence. That's why they're fighting for the Consumer Workforce Council.

The fight to build a Consumer Workforce Council is led by the largest disability advocacy groups, senior organizations (like AARP), and workers' unions (like the amazing 1199C) in the state. We're battling home care agencies that don't think that seniors and people with disabilities have the right to choose and manage their own home care – let alone for the workers who provide that care to organize.

If you think the Governor and our legislators should let home care consumers and the attendants who serve them speak for themselves, send them a message now in support of the Consumer Workforce Council. Or get more information at http://www.choosehomecare.org, or by calling 1-866-598-4311.

This is a personal issue for a lot of people. I'd love to hear your story about why long term care is important to you.