Back in 2006, I was working 80 hours a week in two jobs, and taking home about $60,000 a year. But then the Great Recession came, ending both jobs. I was on unemployment for a while.

Then, my mother got Alzheimer’s.

That was my introduction to IHSS. Many of the caregivers who work through the program are taking care of relatives. My mother applied to receive care from IHSS, and I became one of them.

…

After she went into a nursing home, in 2018, I took on new clients, whose friends or family knew me, and requested that I take care of their loved ones.

Each situation is challenging in a different way.

Read more or listen to the audio on Zocalo Public Square.