High Quality Home Care and Dignity for our Families

The Rhode Island General Assembly

Many Rhode Islanders struggle to find adequate home care services for themselves or their loved ones. Often times, family members have to quit jobs or reduce their work hours (and incomes) in order to provide care, or must decide to place their loved one in a skilled nursing facility even if the more appropriate setting would be at home or in the community.

Our state must do more to meet the needs of all Rhode Islanders – from educating people about the variety of home care options, to recruiting and developing our home care workforce, to ensuring that our caregivers are well-trained and well-compensated.

The Rhode Island Coalition for Home Care Independence and Choice is a group of consumer and worker advocacy groups dedicated to making this a reality. But we need your voice!

Sign our petition calling on the Rhode Island General Assembly to pass legislation that will improve our state’s vital home care network.

If you have experience with home care services, we encourage you to write a little bit about it in the petition’s comment space.

To: The Rhode Island General Assembly
From: [Your Name]

We believe that our state must ensure that seniors and persons living with disabilities are able live at home with dignity if they so choose. Seniors and people with disabilities struggle to find the care they need at home, and with the state's aging population, the problem will only get worse. It is urgent that we take proactive steps towards building a long term care system that will meet the needs of our population and deliver high-quality care. We ask that you strive to build a long term care system that will provide Rhode Islanders with:

Choice and autonomy: Seniors, and persons living with disabilities deserve dignity and access to informed choices when selecting the setting(s) where they receive care and who will provide that care. Persons receiving long term care services should be empowered to help direct their services.

Access and Availability: Home and community based supports, services and care must be easily accessible for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and their families.

Quality and Consistent Care: The system must have professional, well-trained, and well-compensated caregivers who provide high-quality services and safe care. High-quality services and care require that caregivers are paid a living wage in order to develop and maintain a stable and reliable workforce with low turnover.