Lakeisha Branch
Testimony
Budget Hearing January 3rd, Norfolk

My name is Lakeisha Branch and I live in Virginia Beach. I work as a personal care assistants for people with physical disabilities.

I have been with the same consumer for 7 years.  I am there every morning at her house, getting her dressed, showered, and transferring her to her chair. I get her ready for work. I go to the store with her, prepare her breakfast and lunch. Everything she needs assistance with I'm her second set of hands. It's not like she needs to be in some sort of institution. She is happy and very capable living independently at home. She just needs another set of hands to accomplish many of the things we take for granted.

I am also going to school to be a nurse.

I'm here today because I don't understand why we can't get a raise! I've been working with this same consumer for 7 years, but I haven't even gotten a whole dollar raise in that time. You ask my consumer, she'd be happy to give me a raise- but she can't. It's you, the General Assembly who sets my wages through the reimbursement rates for consumer-directed personal care.

At most jobs, you do a good job, you get a real raise. I know I do a good job, but I also know that if I was working at McDonalds for the last 7 years I'd be making a lot more than $8.60 an hour.

I don't do the job for the money. I'm really close to my consumer- we're like family at this point, but I still have to live.

I've got three kids- a 19 year old in college and two six year old twins. My husband and I are trying to buy our home, but we have an adjustable rate mortgage. We're paying $800 a month now, but in February it will go up another $300! My husband used to be a personal care assistant too, but we couldn't afford to have both of us doing this work because we couldn't feed our children.  Even if I worked at a nursing home- they have a cost of living increase every year- do you think that the price of milk and bread goes up for them but not for me?

I love this job and I have brought a lot of people into this field- my sister, my friends, my husband. I love my consumers and they have become good friends of mine. I just don't understand why we can't get a raise. It's the least you could do to respect the important work that we do. All I'm asking for is a 10% rate increase for the reimbursement rates for consumer-directed personal care. That's all I'm asking.

Thankyou for listening.