I used to cry myself to sleep at night asking for the Lord to send someone to help me. Then, the county's health care workers union sent Manawatao. The 49-year old said that she cares for Nancy in two daily shifts, and often calls her at the end of the day to make sure she remembered to wash and take her medicine. Twice a week she also works for an 80-year old woman suffering from Alzheimer's. If her work schedule seems tight, Karen Orlando, a union organizer for Local SIEU 616, says that Manawatao is actually one of the lucky providers of home health care.
Grace is a very skilled and educated worker.
Most of them are living on the fringes. Manawatao, who is single and rents an apartment in Alameda, has been working in the health care industry since she arrived to the United States from the Philippines in her late twenties. She worked the night shift and went to school at UC Hayward during the day, studying to become a dietician. Eventually the stress became too much, and she decided to earn a medical assistant certificate and devote herself to caring for the elderly and the disabled. That's why this work is familiar to me and I enjoy it.