Low-Wage America: Health Care for the Elderly, Part II
Minia Rivera, Home Health Care Worker
Minia Rivera and home care client Max Green. Rivera shops, cooks and cleans for Green, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. She works about 57 hours a week, seven days a week, for $9 an hour.
In the second of two reports from Arizona, NPR's Noah Adams spends a day with Minia Rivera, 54, who's been working as a caregiver since she was 14. One of her current clients is Max Green, an 82-year-old diabetic with a history of strokes, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.
Rivera shops, cooks and cleans for Green, and helps with his shower -- all for $9 an hour. She works 57 hours a week, seven days a week, and has no medical insurance.
Rivera admits she sometimes gets too close to her clients, but believes the work is important -- because she says we're all going to need help someday.
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