Hope from the Front Lines

Nine months into the Coronavirus pandemic, childcare providers are doing double and triple duty supervising school aged kids with remote learning for much of each day, while doing their regular duties caring for the children of working parents. But providers fear that if and when schools reopen, their risk of COVID exposure will increase as kids shuttle back and forth between dayca

Healthcare workers in homes face increased exposure risk to Covid-19, just like traditional front line workers. So why are employers using loopholes in the law to avoid paying some essential workers sick leave? The Families First Coronavirus Response Act covers pay, if you’re infected by COVID. For home healthcare workers, it’s only if they contract it from a client. The issue

Throughout Chicagoland and across the country nursing homes continue to bear the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past 11 months the linoleum tiled hallways of these facilities have carried not only orderlies, gurneys, and residents, but also more than 38% of all Covid-19 related deaths in America. But what many don’t know is that staff of these facilities, and the industr

Five months after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, the struggle for justice and equality for African Americans continues in peoples’ hearts and minds, if not still in the streets. Many Black Americans are encouraged that the protests and larger number of allies joining the movement for Black Lives will bring real changes in policing and equity. In this epi

Lakesia Collins es una CNA decidida a cambiar la narrativa. Trabajando en múltiples trabajos de cuidadora mientras criaba niños, tuvo que declararse en bancarrota porque su hogar de ancianos pagaba salarios de pobreza. Convirtiéndose en organizadora de la unión la empoderó para correr como representante estatal del noveno distrito de Illinois. Su plan no es solo conseguir que

At the midpoint of our first season of Hope from the Front Lines we look back at some of the episodes we have produced so far. Throughout the season we’ve heard from frontline workers receiving no pay for time spent in quarantine, daycare providers left to fend for themselves as they reopen in the midst of a pandemic, healthcare-providers working in unsafe conditions for unfair w

La industria del cuidado de la salud en el hogar está creciendo rápidamente, con un valor de más de $30B USD. La industria ya lucha con prácticas laborales justas, pero COVID-19 golpeó y expuso esas debilidades. Marisol García ha estado trabajando con la misma empresa de cuidado en el hogar desde 2003 y contrajo COVID-19 mientras trabajaba. La obligaron a estar en cuarentena

Long-term healthcare workers have been overlooked for a long time, and during the time of a pandemic, things are no different. These healthcare workers are often the ones who are looking after those most vulnerable in our society. In this episode, we learn from two long-term health care workers, Monique Smith and Marybeth Linse, on the difficulties of taking care of a loved one dur

Lakesia Collins is a CNA determined to change the narrative. Working multiple caregiving jobs while raising kids, she had to file bankruptcy because her nursing home paid her poverty wages. Becoming a union organizer empowered her to run for state representative of Illinois’ 9th District. Her plan is not just to get bills passed but to organize her district around the issues that

Loneliness, isolation, depression, anxiety and other mental health crises have infiltrated nursing homes long before the March lockdown and peak of COVID-19 in Illinois, but the pandemic has only heightened those feelings among staff and residents. While the pandemic has been hard overall, the strict parameters limiting social activities, interactions and the disruption of normal r