Wednesday, September 9, 2026

The Call to Care

Canada’s healthcare crisis won’t be cured unless those providing care are cared for

By Alison Brown

THE CALL COMES BEFORE DAWN. While most of Canada is still asleep, personal support workers (PSWs) employed as homecare workers are already checking schedules, reviewing care plans, and gassing up their cars. They travel rural roads, city streets, and country highways to reach people who need help getting out of bed, showering, or simply making it through another day.

Many of those clients are elderly. Some are living with dementia. Others are recovering from illness or surgery. Some are nearing the end of life.

For homecare workers, no two homes are the same. Every client has a unique story, a different family dynamic, and a different set of needs. Yet the goal remains constant: helping people remain at home.

Homecare is often described as the future of healthcare. As hospitals across Canada face overcrowding and long term care wait-lists grow, governments are increasingly relying on homecare to keep people safe and healthy in their own homes.

But the workers who care for some of society’s most vulnerable people are struggling under low wages, long travel times, unpredictable schedules, and staffing shortages. Yet they continue to show up, day after day.

For members like Kelly Flexman and Reynante Trinidad, homecare isn’t simply a job. It’s a calling. And nowhere is that calling shown more beautifully than in the stories they share.

KELLY IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING people stay independent in their own homes. Earlier in her working life, she drove school buses, taught English, and worked in long term care support roles before earning her PSW certification and joining The Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) and Local 305 in Haldimand-Norfolk, Ontario. What she observed in long term care convinced her to pursue working in a different environment.

“So many residents who came into long term care, they’re just ready to go,” says Kelly. “At the end of their life, they’re just waiting to pass away in an institution. And PSWs have to hurry from one client to the next—it was hard on my body. I work longer hours in homecare now, but at least I get a breather when I’m driving between clients.”

She notes enjoying the one-on-one time with each client in a more relaxed, comfortable setting. Many of the seniors she visits want to stay in their homes for as long as possible.

“They don’t want to leave home,” she says. “They want to stay with their pets. They want to stay in their own cozy environment.”

A typical day can start before 6 a.m. and stretch into late afternoon. It involves juggling schedules, driving between communities, helping clients shower, preparing meals, monitoring medications, and providing companionship. But the work extends beyond physical care. Homecare workers often become an important social connection for lonely seniors.

“For some people, you’re one of the only visitors they see,” says Kelly. “You’re not just helping them physically; you’re helping them stay connected. And sometimes the clients with dementia, they don’t want help. Because you’re coming into their home, they want to maintain their independence. So I’ll tell them I’m just there to do a safety check. I’ll tell them I’m a friend visiting and making sure they’ve eaten and taken their meds.”

One of the areas she finds most meaningful is palliative care. After losing her own father, she discovered that supporting clients and families through the final stages of life helped her process her own grief.

“It helped me understand death differently,” she says. “And I can help prepare clients and families for death because I’ve experienced it with my dad. I have a lot of empathy for them because I’ve been there.”

Those relationships leave lasting impressions. Kelly remembers clients whose personalities, stories, and resilience stayed with her long after their passing.

“You learn to treat every day like it matters,” she says. “Because sometimes there isn’t a later.”

Yet despite the importance of the work, she worries about the future of the profession. Many homecare workers leave for hospitals or long term care facilities, where wages are higher and schedules are more predictable.

“I’ve seen a lot of people leave,” says Kelly. “The salary difference is a big reason.”

The result is a cycle that affects everyone: workers leave, staffing shortages increase, and the remaining workers shoulder more responsibility.

“If there wasn’t such a big difference between homecare and other healthcare sectors, I think we’d keep more people,” she says.

For Kelly, supporting homecare workers ultimately means supporting seniors.

“People want to stay at home,” she says. “We need to make sure there’s a workforce in place to help them do that.”

LOCAL 303 MEMBER REYNANTE TRINIDAD never expected to work in healthcare at all.

Originally trained in business management and information technology, he immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2010. Then life changed.

When his daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, he spent months at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital with his family.

“Watching the healthcare professionals care for my daughter transformed my understanding of service,” says Reynante.

“Although I had already completed my PSW training, her journey showed me it was the perfect time to put that education into practice. Inspired by the compassion and dedication of the healthcare team, I pursued a career in homecare and joined VON, where I was cross-trained to care for clients with complex medical needs, including COPD, congestive heart failure (CHF), and those receiving palliative care.”

Today, most of his work focuses on palliative care with VON London. His wife also works as a PSW in a long term care facility.

“We both fell in love with healthcare,” he says. “For me it’s all about that human connection and witnessing someone’s resilience and humanity in their final stages.”

His days are spent helping clients navigate some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. One woman he cared for knew she was dying yet remained remarkably positive.

“She always had the most beautiful smile,” says Reynante. “She told me, ‘I know I’m dying, but I’m still having fun. I’m still enjoying my last moments on earth because of the people who come to take care of me, like you.’

“Sometimes, she would forget my name and ask me to give her a hint. So I’d say to her, ‘Do you see the sun? What comes out of the sun?’ And she’d get so happy and yell out, ‘Ray! You’re a Rey of sunshine!’”

Another client offered a lesson he has never forgotten. After a lifetime of professional achievements, the former businesswoman reflected on what truly mattered at the end of her life.

“This client was initially hesitant to have a male PSW take care of her,” says Reynante. “But I grew on her and then she said that she’s been thankful for my care, and that whomever was coming to take care of her from now on, she’d look beyond their gender, their culture, the colour of their skin and see the person. The kindness and beauty of each person.

“She said, ‘We spend our whole lives building things, working, earning money, buying houses. But in the end, our space gets smaller and smaller. It’s better to enjoy life than worry about how big our house is, because in the end, we’re all just laying on our death beds.’”

Those conversations changed his perspective. Working in palliative care has taught him that compassion matters more than accomplishments.

“The patients never talk about their achievements,” he says. “What they talk about is kindness.”

That belief shapes his approach to care. Being a good PSW, he says, requires more than technical skills.

“It isn’t just about providing care,” he says. “It’s about understanding the person. “You have to learn how to communicate well and have a lot of empathy and genuinely value the person who needs care.

“Sometimes, we can carry our own culture and beliefs into a home, but you have to leave that at the front door and learn to adapt to what the patient needs. That’s what being a good PSW is all about: understanding every client and seeing them as a unique human being with a story, with emotions, with fears, and memories.”

Homecare workers enter people’s lives during moments of illness, uncertainty, grief, and loss. Sometimes, the most important thing they provide is simply their presence.

“People don’t need your words,” Reynante says. “They just need you to be there. That’s why you work in healthcare—because you have compassion. You have to be emotionally present and you have to have so much patience and kindness, especially with dementia patients. You can’t take what they do personally. Sometimes, they’ll get aggressive and combative, and their family members will apologize and I’ll tell them, ‘That’s not your mom or dad. That’s the disease behind the behaviour.’ Back in the Philippines when my father had a brain tumour, his personality shifted and he could switch from the kindest person to being very aggressive. I’d remind my family that when he got aggressive, that’s not dad, that’s just his condition. So PSWs really have to adapt to changes in their client’s behaviour, and be there for the family members as well.”

Reynante also sees the challenges facing the profession every day: long drives between clients, unpaid preparation time, vehicle expenses, weather-related risks, and unpredictable scheduling.

He recalls driving nearly an hour to reach clients in difficult winter conditions and experiencing dangerous close calls on icy roads, a common occurrence in southwestern Ontario.

“The government wants people cared for at home,” he says. “But if we don’t support the workers providing that care, how can the system succeed?”

For Reynante, investing in homecare workers is ultimately about investing in patients and families.

“The more you value and support PSWs,” he says, “the more you’re supporting the elderly, the vulnerable, and the families who want their loved ones to stay at home.”

FOR ONTARIO DIRECTOR Ian DeWaard, improving homecare means improving both patient outcomes and the working conditions of the people providing care.

“Homecare is a better way to serve the needs of an aging population,” says Ian. “Helping people remain in their homes longer and return home sooner after hospitalization is the right approach.”

But while governments continue to invest in homecare as an alternative to hospitals and long term care facilities, Ian says worker compensation and working conditions have not kept pace.

“There remains a significant gap between homecare and other parts of the healthcare system,” he says. “When workers can earn more elsewhere, it becomes harder to recruit and retain the people needed to provide care.”

CLAC has spent years advocating for improvements, including fair compensation for travel time and mileage, stronger workforce standards in provincial contracts, and extending essential-service protections to homecare workers.

“The influence and authority to create substantial change rests with the province,” says Ian. “If we want people to receive care at home, we need to ensure the people providing that care can build sustainable careers doing it.”

Ian says the message CLAC hears from members is consistent: workers love the care they provide and want the system to succeed.

“They care deeply about their clients, they’re proud of what they do, and they know homecare offers people a more humane and dignified option,” he says. “What they want are working conditions that allow more people to stay in the profession and continue providing that care.”

For CLAC, that means continuing to advocate for practical solutions that strengthen both the workforce and the healthcare system as a whole.

EVERY DAY, THOUSANDS OF HOMECARE workers enter homes across Ontario. They help seniors remain independent. They support families through illness. They sit beside people in their final days. They perform work that is physically demanding, emotionally draining, and increasingly essential to the future of healthcare. Yet much of that work happens out of public view.

Kelly and Reynante know that homecare works because they see the difference it makes in people’s lives. But they also know the system depends on workers who are too often overlooked.

As Ontario continues to expand homecare services, CLAC is calling on the provincial government to take meaningful action to support the workforce that makes those services possible. That includes addressing wage disparities, improving compensation for travel time and mileage, and creating stronger standards that help attract and retain skilled caregivers.

For homecare workers, these changes are not simply workplace issues. They are essential to ensuring seniors, people with disabilities, and families can continue receiving quality care at home.

Because if Ontario’s healthcare future depends on care delivered in the home, then the people providing that care must be valued, supported, and protected.

The call to care has already been answered by workers across the province.

Now, the question is whether the government will answer their call for change.

CLAC CARES

For more than two decades, CLAC has advocated for improvements to Ontario’s homecare system, recognizing that quality patient care depends on a stable, well-supported workforce.

While homecare is widely viewed as one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce pressure on hospitals and long term care facilities, workers continue to face challenges that make it difficult to recruit and retain staff. Through collective bargaining, government relations, and public advocacy, CLAC, which represents 1,300 homecare workers, continues to push for practical solutions that strengthen both the workforce and the healthcare system.

1. Closing the Gap
CLAC has consistently called for greater investment in homecare services. While governments increasingly rely on homecare to help seniors remain independent and reduce hospital overcrowding, funding has not kept pace with growing demand.

Additional funding could help address wage disparities, improve compensation for travel time, and provide greater income stability for workers when appointments are cancelled.

One of the biggest challenges facing the sector is the wage gap between homecare workers and employees performing similar work in hospitals and long term care facilities.

Many personal support workers (PSWs) and RPNs leave homecare for higher-paying positions elsewhere in the healthcare system. This contributes to staffing shortages, increased workloads, and reduced service capacity for patients.

CLAC continues to advocate for wage parity so workers can build sustainable careers in homecare without being financially disadvantaged. Strides have been made, but with more yet to be done.

2. Fair Compensation for Travel Time and Mileage
Unlike most healthcare workers, homecare employees spend a significant portion of their day travelling between clients.

Many workers receive mileage reimbursement that does not fully cover vehicle costs, while travel time may be unpaid or compensated at rates below regular wages. As a result, some workers effectively spend hours each week working without full compensation.

CLAC is advocating for fair reimbursement of both travel time and mileage to ensure workers are compensated for the full scope of their responsibilities.

Homecare services are awarded through a competitive bid process. CLAC has argued the bid process pressures service providers to reduce costs, and that workers bear the brunt of these attempts at cost savings through inadequate travel compensation.

To address this issue, CLAC is calling on the Ontario government to establish minimum procurement standards for travel time and mileage reimbursement within all homecare contracts. Provincial standards would help ensure workers across Ontario receive fair compensation regardless of which provider delivers the service.

3. Income Protection and Predictable Scheduling
Homecare workers often face cancelled appointments, fluctuating schedules, and limited guarantees around hours of work.

These uncertainties can make it difficult to plan financially and create additional stress for workers already managing demanding caseloads.

CLAC supports stronger income protections and scheduling practices that provide greater stability for workers and continuity of care for patients.

Homecare workers provide essential support that allows seniors, people with disabilities, and those recovering from illness to remain safely in their homes. CLAC believes that creating fair wages, stable working conditions, and appropriate compensation for travel is essential not only for workers, but for the long term sustainability of Ontario’s healthcare system.

4. Recognizing Homecare as Essential Work
CLAC has called for the inclusion of homecare workers under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act (HLDAA).

While homecare workers technically retain the legal right to strike, the reality is that the services they provide are essential to the health and well-being of vulnerable patients. There is no rationale to legally treat homecare workers differently from other essential healthcare workers at the bargaining table, and doing so has contributed to the many issues facing the sector. Bringing the homecare sector under the same statutory framework as hospital and long term care workers would provide a structured dispute-resolution process while helping ensure continuity of care for patients who rely on homecare services every day.

Kelly Flexman

Reynante Trinidad

Ian DeWaard

The Call to Care

CLAC CARES

You might be interested in