‘It’s gratifying that they trust you with someone they love’ FRANCIS ADAMS
For much of his childhood, Francis Adams lived with his grandparents in the tiny coal town of Westland in Washington County.
His grandfather Sell Francis Adams descended into a mine at 7 a.m. and emerged, soot-covered, at 8 p.m. Sell’s eyes, straining all day in darkness, burned in sunlight. Coal dust filled his lungs. Francis Adams’ grandmother Berdella Adams cleaned houses for a living.
“Even today, when I think about them, it brings emotion,” said Mr. Adams, 71, who now lives in Washington, Pa. “I don’t know if I could be the man that my grandfather was.”
Sell and Berdella Adams were hardworking people who, despite having little money, “would always give first,” Mr. Adams said.
He finds echoes of the couple’s mindset in the profession he’s chosen. Mr. Adams works as a home health care provider. “It’s more of a giving profession than it is a way to get rich.”
In fact, Sell and Berdella Adams provided their grandson with a path into the profession. By the late 1970s, coal mining had taken a toll on Sell Adams. He suffered from black lung disease and blindness. When
Berdella died of a heart attack in 1980, responsibility for Sell’s well-being fell on Mr. Adams’ shoulders.
At the time, Mr. Adams was laid off from his job at Washington Steel, so the timing was right, he said. He looked after his grandfather until Sell Adams’ death in 1983.
Mr. Adams liked providing care, so he began picking up home health care jobs. On occasion, Mr. Adams returned to his job at the nearby steel mill, but that work was erratic. Layoffs were frequent, he said. Then, in the late ’90s, his aunt became ill with cancer. Once again, he found himself taking care of a relative.
“She became really debilitated the last couple of years of her life,” he said.
Mr. Adams learned he could receive pay for taking care of his aunt. “There was a need; this was a job,” he was told. The pay came through a hospice agency, he recalled. After his aunt’s death, Mr. Adams threw himself into home health care on a fulltime basis. And for years, he worked with a steady array of clients. Now, he works on an “on-call” basis.
“That way I can have some free time,” he said. “But you never know. It can get pretty hectic and pretty busy at times. You really can’t get comfortable because you never know when the call is going to come. I can be in the middle of grocery shopping, and I’ll get a call.”
One recent morning, for example, Mr. Adams received a call at 5:30. A man with Parkinson’s disease was having difficulty getting out of bed. Mr. Adams drove to the man’s home to assist. The man began experiencing difficulty breathing, so Mr. Adamscalled an ambulance.
At times, his job requires him to change colostomy bags and catheters. Other times he helps with laundry and household cleaning or picks up prescriptions from a pharmacy.
His pay is around $11 per hour.
The work is “underpaid and undervalued, period,” he said. “We need to be able to unionize all home health care workers,” he said. Mr. Adams is represented by United Health Care Workers of Pennsylvania. “It’s very important that we be able to negotiate our pay and health care, for our future.”
Mr. Adams sees value in his work, even if it brings in little pay. It allows people to stay in their homes as they age or experience health problems and offers relatives a break from providing care for loved ones.
“It gives people time to do the things they need to do for their families and their jobs,” he said. “It’s difficult if you’re working and your parents need you every day. Maybe you need to take your child to a soccer game or to the doctor. It’s hard for them to find people they can trust. I have keys to people’s homes — when they give you that kind of trust, it’s gratifying.
“It sounds silly, but it’s the way I was taught by my parents and grandparents.”