Paula Vereen, cont'd

Paula: What does caregiving mean to you in your own words?

Linda: I think that it's reliable, dependable, being there for the patient, hard working, understanding. That's what I think caregiving is -- supportive, being very supportive and being able to take care of the patient. Because they need us, they really depend on us. A lot of them don't have families. A lot of them live alone and they are unable to go out and shop and you know it's really ... it's very important to them to have someone that's there to support them.

Roberta: And also there's a lot of them out there that can't even feed themselves or clothe themselves, so they really depend on us ... they need us coming in because this is their livelihood just as well. As for us going out there...even for the ones that are wheelchair-bound or quadriplegic, para ... somebody has to feed and cook for them and they look for this, you know they wait for that next day to come and for you to be there for them.

Anna: Being dedicated, you have to be dedicated. Sometimes we are their hands, their eyes, their nose. We do everything for some of these patients and we show that love and that caring and the patient responds sometimes to what we give to them we get back. And it's a good feeling to see your patient improve as you take care of this patient.

What does the phrase, And Thou Shalt Honor mean?

Sharon: I think the phrase Thou Shalt Honor, it's not a one-sided thing. It's like a sharing matter, like you give and I give and it's how you perceive it. There are different phrases to it and there are different perceptions to it but I think the most thing about it is you appreciate the person, the person appreciates you. You are like a highlight or a front-line person to each other and I think that's what it's all about.

Julia: Well, you figure with everything that's been going on since September 11th that the need for home health aids would be greater because a lot of people were lost, a lot of children were orphaned, and so you would think that the government would try and concentrate more on that because there's probably a greater need since September 11th. So, I think, I know we have a war going on right now but I think that they really need to look into the home health aid situation. I feel that they would probably save money with taking care of the elderly or disabled in the home than with putting them in a nursing home. So, I think that someone really needs to look into the matter.

Paula Vereen & Producer Harry Wiland

Paula: As advocates...and you ladies are all advocates in your own way, what do you think you can do as an individual to get the message out about how important our work is?

Anna: We have to let our politicians know that we exist. We have to make a noise with our votes, let them know that we have a voice and that they have to give us something in order to get something from us. We just have to keep speaking and talking til somebody listen to us. That's the main thing - we are talking, but it just seem that we are not getting through to the right people, so until we continue to speak and let them know that we're functioning but we are not satisfied with what we are getting - we should be getting more, I repeat that again, because we do a very important job.

Our job, a lot of people depend on us. Sooner or later someone in everybody's family will need a home help aid so they should think about us a little more. Even the politicians, all the way up to Washington, D.C., they should remember us because we are at the bottom but we do very important jobs. So that's about it.

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