Pei Wen Li

Since 2015, I started to do 24-hour work. Two days every week. Because if I didn’t

have enough work hours, I wouldn’t have health insurance. I had to cook food,

wash clothes, help the patient to bathe, assist them to the bathroom, etc.

Basically, we have to do everything for the patients.

At night, the place I slept was very small, right next to the burner. Once the

patient called for help, I had to get up. The agency said home attendants who

work at night could ignore the patients, but we couldn’t ignore the patients

because it was our responsibility to care for them. 1199 (our union) told us to

follow the agency’s rules. The agency set the 24-hour work and did not allow us to

go home.