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Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role — And Tenuous Circumstances — Of Home Care Workers in Pandemic

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Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers reported to work and provided vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their families.

KFF Health News and The John A. Hartford Foundation will hold an interactive web event at noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 30, to examine the crucial roles these workers have played for families during the pandemic, as well as the challenging economics of the industry for providers and consumers alike.

KFF Health News Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal will serve as moderator of the event, intended to be an intimate conversation about the role of home health during the covid-19 crisis. Rosenthal draws on personal experience: Her mother, Elaine, who died last year at age 96 of suspected covid, spent the final months of her life in an assisted living community, where she was cared for by workers — all women of color — who showed up each day despite the risks.