Little is known about the hazards of work to home care workers such as Ms. Muriel Jones, Local 880, SEIU member. Personal care assistants work in clients' homes, far away from the public eye.

The National Institutes for Occupational Safety (NIOSH) funded this project to increase understanding about bloodborne pathogens exposures and controls for home care workers.

Designing the inquiry, Dr. Lipscomb wanted to document home care work and invited  Mr. Earl Dotter, photojournalist, to photograph the work of personal care assistants in Chicago and nurses in Maryland working in home care.

Photos:
Earl Dotter, Photojournalist, www.earldotter.com

Principal Investigators:
Jane A. Lipscomb
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 W. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21201
ph) 410-706-7647, (fax) 410-706-0295
lipscomb@son.umaryland.edu

Rosemary Sokas
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health
2121 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612
(ph) 312-355-4497, (fax) 312-413-9898
sokas@uic.edu

Research Partners:
SEIU Local 880, http://www.seiu880.org
SEIU Local 150, http://www.seiu150.org

University of Maryland School of Nursing
http://nursing.umaryland.edu/excellence/whrc/index.htm

University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
www.uic.edu/sph

Academy for Educational Development (AED), Washington D.C.
http://www.aed.org/

Service Employee International Union (SEIU) International
http://www.seiu.org/

Funding:
This project was supported by a grant from the National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health/CDC: 1R01OH008237-01in response to RFA/PA: OH04-003 and by NIOSH Education and Research Center Training Grant T42/CCT510424.

Ms. Muriel Jones is a member leader of Local 880, SEIU and welcomed the opportunity to invite her clients to have their pictures taken and to have Earl record the multiple tasks that she completes for them in a typical day at work.

This presentation shows Muriel from the time she leaves her house in the morning until the time she returns home at night. Muriel describes what she does at work, how her clients feel about her presence in her home, how she started to care for clients and what she believes needs to happen for her to be safe at work and to support her family.

Mr. Dotter is well know for his work with union members, bringing to light the humanity of workers in the challenges, exposures and conditions they find at work.