I am writing in strong support of LD 1350, a bill for home care workers that is before the Legislature right now. I currently receive home care and know that home care workers need the proposed increase in wages very badly.

I have lived in my current house for the past 20 years. It is my home. I am free. I can go to bed and get up whenever I want. I can go to my neighbors. The freedom to do what I want to do is priceless to me. I don’t want to go to an assisted living establishment. If I had to move, I would leave behind a part of me.

I have a wonderful home care worker who helps me a few times a week. That is what keeps me in my beloved home so I can maintain my independence. Home care is what makes my independence possible.

But home care workers are severely underpaid and under-supported, even though they do the work that so many people depend upon.

LD 1350 deserves everyone’s support, to ensure the dignity of seniors like myself, and also for the workers who help us as we age.

Ray Polley, Wales