Health aides can’t get to patients
Commuters were stranded this morning at mass transit stops in Philadelphia.
The union representing bus, trolley, and subway operators announced a strike overnight, leaving many Philadelphia workers to find other ways to get to their jobs, or stay home.
(Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathydoucette/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Most of the home health aides at In Home Program rely on Septa to get to their patients. Christina Visco, the director of In Home Program, says some patients will not get a visit today.
Visco: We’re trying to rent a van or one of the people who work there if they have a van that we can have someone pick them up and take them to their patients because the patients depend on our aides and they’re not getting the care they need because, this strike, no one heard about it until they woke up this morning.
Visco says her aides bathe and feed their patients, and perform household chores. She says by tomorrow transportation will be arranged so that no one will miss a home health visit.
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