STATEMENT OF WILLIAM ALSTON

Hello.  My name is William Alston.  For the past five years, I have been the personal care assistant to Lloyd Vaughn.  I am here today to draw attention to the contributions PCAs such as myself make, both to the lives of people like Lloyd, and to the state of Virginia as a whole.

I have spent much of my life working with people with disabilities.  Besides my paid PCA work assisting Lloyd, I also work one on one with autistic young people, as a volunteer.  Like many PCAs in Virginia, I wish I could commit even more of my time to those I help.  Unfortunately, the extremely low wages we are paid force many of us to choose between going the extra mile for our clients, or getting a second (or third) job to provide for our families. 

Keep in mind all that PCAs do with those we care for, and how difficult it is to do that for such low compensation.  If I'm driving all over town with Lloyd, the cost of gas very quickly eats up the $8.60 an hour I earn.  I often wonder how some other PCAs even get food on the table for their children. 

At the same time, PCAs save the state and its taxpayers a great deal of money.  Nursing homes and private facilities cost a great deal more than we PCAs do.  It just makes sense for the state to pay us enough that we can afford to keep doing it.  And when PCAs can stay in this line of work for a long time, we become an experienced, highly qualified field of professionals.  I don't think there's anyone here today who think Virginia's seniors and people with disabilities deserve any less.

To continue giving Lloyd the care he deserves, I need your help in improving this system. So I hope you will support the budget amendments to raise wages, and help with healthcare, for personal care assistants like us.  It's the right (and smart) thing to do.