Issue. The question of what do we do for folks that need longterm care . Folks that need longterm care . What do we do about our seniors that want to live at home but they need a little bit of help making sure they are in a row . These are the things we are trying to talk about today when we talk about things like longterm care. The other point. When someone in your family get worryou shouldnt have to about will i get paid today . We need serious paid family medical leave that if your child gets sick, you can take some time off to make sure they are ok emotionally, physically, and mentally. You shouldnt have to lose your pay or your job to do these simple acts. Areof these things encompassed in what we like to call the caring economy. Guaranteeseconomy every Single Person in this country is respect no matter what. We dont talk about the folks that are getting those services. That arebout the folks providing those services. You cannot automate the human touch. You cannot automate the care a senior need. That will not happen. The question we have to ask ourselves is if we respect our seniors and elders and kids, will we treat the folks providing that care with dignity and respect . Are we making sure they will not get sick . That they dont lose their job because their daughter, son, mother, sister get sick. Willey need time off, we give them time off. If they need to collectively bargain for higher wages, they can do that. That there is a minimum wage so they are not take care of someone or nine dollars an hour. U. S. Kenny of these greedy billionaires to take care of their mother for nine dollars an hour, they will tell you know. If we respect our seniors and kids they are worth more than that. We have an Incredible Group of panelists. I will have them introduce itmselves to explain what means to build a caring economy. From when you are born, making sure you have the services that you need. To all the way when youre older. I will close with a personal story. Who gotn older brother sick in 2013. Required fulltime care. In 2013, my brother got really sick. Motorabetes, lost some function in his legs. He is dependent. Has to breathe from a little hole the size of a mcdonalds straw. I think about the privilege that that myhad in my family parents had eight kids. We are pretty tight it. We were able to all chip in to make sure we take care of this. We make sure we know we can do for him when his trachea gets messy. We help him walk to the bathroom. We monitor his food so he doesnt choke. We make sure he is taking his meds and everything in between. I think about the folks who have one child in the folks who have andparent or live alone dealt with the circumstances. What are we doing to make sure those people get the same amount of care that we are able to provide my brother . Even with eight kids we still need help. We still need help to make sure that he has all the supplies he needs. I cannot tell you how many times we have to call the insurance. Ompany any time something changes, if you needs an adaptation for his medication. How we make sure we are building that caring economy or all of these people . This Incredible Group of panelists will talk about what it means in child care. What it means to invest in longterm family care and senior care. In ait means to invest medicare for all singlepayer system. What it means to make care make sure all of those people are treated with midi and respect and they get the care they deserve. And we will have folks quickly introduce themselves. [applause] my name is bria lewis, i recently became involved in these events. Just looking forward to delve further into these issues as well as hearing from the perspective of the other panelists. Hello everybody. I have a part of mothering justice, michigan united, and a bunch of other group. Im trying to help clean up our city. Childcare andable medicaid for all. Everyone, i want to thank you all for coming out. It is a diverse crowd. We have youth, elderly people, different races. We need that. I also want to thank our councilwoman for being a champion of change for fighting all of these issues. It is tough out there, especially in the crazy white house. Us. Definitely fight for thank you so much. [applause] thank you. Thank you. The only way we get closer to universal health care is from your activism. Thank you for being a voice for so many that cant speak up because of the broken inhumane Health Care System. Im honored to be here as your member of congress representing the 13th district. This new class is not only diverse but it is also real. , one inmy colleagues particular had no health care until she became a member of congress. Another has a preexisting condition and knows what it would need to take away that protection. Another lost her mother because of the broken Health Care System. Not only are we diverse, we are also so real in how we have been impacted by this broken Health Care System in our country. Have so much help that we will get to targetsayer, that thousands of dollars for insulin. This is all they need to survive, this insulin. Things that the government subsidize for. That we paid for the development and research of. We should be able to provide for our families very easily. It should not be this tough. Anything transformative in this country, i dont care what it was. Streetly happened in the with people like you. Continue to fight back. Out, the majority of the Democratic Caucus now supports impeaching this president. Good evening everyone. Withnd in total agreement michigan united mothering across, andcarrying the alliance. Thank you. [applause] good evening everybody. Advocate fort workers and activist in my community. I want to thank everyone for coming out. We have some stories for you. [applause] so, we will now hear from our panelists. They will share their stories about their personal stake in this game. How you are impacted in what we are trying to build. Why do you want to keep fighting . Just like the congresswoman said, Health Care Care for all is necessary. I am a victim where i lost my job that gave me health care coverage. I went two my job, years without coverage. That prevented me from going to the doctor and finding out if there were issues going on with you. By the time i was eligible for medicare, i did go back and i had developed diabetes. I found out that i developed diabetes is when i went to the emergency room and had a cut on my finger and it swelled up. Do those preliminary tests when you go to the emergency room. Ed. Anick i figured because i lived a healthy lifestyle, going two years without insurance would be ok. It wasnt. I was diagnosed with prediabetes, now i am a full on diabetic. Aboutere tonight to talk the economy and how important it is for this Medicaid Expansion for all. There are families out here suffering who cannot go to the doctor because they dont have health care coverage. I will talk about the big insurance companies. That is a travesty. About what canlk be done. Im fighting with the congresswoman to make sure this message gets across to the lawmakers that we need to care for all. This is a human right. [applause] i would like to thank god for another chance to share my story. Thanks to the congresswoman and for the michigan united and mothering justice. Thank you for this town hall. Thank you for allowing me a few minutes of your time. School, my past choice was technology. I wanted to become an entrepreneur. I went to work, i went to school, i have five children and i knew my mother was aging. At that time, i was young. Inn you are young you take the world. You dont think about the consequences because you have the energy. You just do it. Caregivery mothers in 1999, when i noticed she needed special needs. In the state of michigan, they houred my mother 5. 15 per for 20 hours a month for her to pay me. That was not working for me. I had to work, finish school, i had five children, i also was planning to get married. I think god again because we made it. In 2014 my mother passed away at 88 years old. She lived in her home. She was healthy. She was surrounded by her family. Even though it is hard, it was not easy for me and my family to take care of her and taking care of ourselves at the same time. I believe working together is the key to having a successful and healthy. I learned it from my mother who was a teacher and Community Leader. She always was a going above and jan the call of duty. My parents moved here from georgia. District forur over 15 years. I love my community and state. Suffering people are and some are even dying because of the lack of care. This is unnecessary. Years, the state of michigan has said we are invisible anymore. Arent invisible anymore. Our first wage increase. We had a voice that made it clear that if something wasnt done then, it would get worked. It did. We are in a crisis right now. There is a shortage of 32,000 health their workers in the state of michigan. Arent getting the care are suffering because workers are not being recognized. We need the caring ecomony to build up workers so people could have the care they need. Lets use united stand and make it work. [applause] hello everyone, again. Is there any fathers in the house . Let me give you guys a round of applause. [applause] talk about health care and childcare. Was even necessarily here for health care. It hit our country hard. Ago. T my cousin two years i was working for the Michigan Democratic campaign. It was a tough time meat. He died, nine years old. 39 years old. It was really too late. We all haveant that Affordable Health care. I havent had health care for the last two years. It is serious. People get sick all the time. A lot of people dont have money. We have people getting rich off of us getting sick. It doesnt make any sense. I cant stand the thought of it. This woman right here is my mom. I love you. I have to thank her so much because the support she gave me, i was fortunate. A lot of my friends and relatives have problems with childcare. I know a lot of people who lost jobs due to not having a babysitter. It is sad that you cannot find support. In here, you all deserve a round of applause. I grew up without my father so i know how it feels. It hurt. They dont have the support they need. Im lucky enough to have support from my mom. I thank you for that. It has been a roller coaster ride. I will be honest with you all. There was time i didnt have babysitters. I couldnt afford it. The job didnt understand that. They didnt care to understand that. I understood it was a job. They never really took the time out to understand where i was coming from. I called off four times due to not having a babysitter and i was fired. It is important for us to have affordable childcare. Thank you guys for giving me opportunities. [applause] i have to go behind that. Being an unlicensed Childcare Provider gives me an opportunity to help families in need. They dont have reasonable priced childcare. When they think about affordable childcare, we have to the about the compassion when it comes down to watching children. I have been doing childcare for 20 years. It shows that you care. I have to do the basics. I have to have my neighbors watch their children. When we talk about Affordable Care, we have to be Holding People accountable. Questionsked the first , a lot of us take advantage of our health care. Care who dont have health , we have to push and say we need Affordable Health care for all. Taxes we pay taxes, where is our money going . We have to make sure we are living healthy and strong because we have health data. I will turn the ball over. [applause] i have been asked to address the topic of paid family leave. From twoctive comes different angles. One is the part of the work i do. I work in legal services. I hear countless stories of people having these choices. I get the call about eviction. Had ans out this person child that was hospitalized or a chronic illness or had to choose between taking the time off of lovednd caring for their one. They were ultimately fired. Coming at the issue out on a personal level. To take advantage of family medical leave but had to do so much sooner in my current pregnancy then i planned. Doingomes a question of what is financially preferable versus what would result in the best result for my health and the health of my unborn children as well. Everybody, i have concluded that i am at the intersection of a lot of these issues, as many other people are in that i am navigating what the system offers in terms of leave childcare costs. As well as the work of actually caring or children. In the past, my husband had to go back to work within a few days of giving birth. A lot of the support came from my mother. My mother is now caring for my grandmother, who is 90. There is a longterm care issue in that as well. My grandmother deserves to age with every bit of dignity that she has lived with. The dynamic of what my options are. The choices i am facing are more and example of the piecemeal approach of caregiving that we have. My circumstances arent nearly as dire as a lot of other people. Nevertheless, it is a piecemeal approach. Instead of focusing on the wellbeing and the wellbeing of my children and family, im focused on doing the best with the pieces. People make do. People have been making do. Means that,r me making do for other people means do i get evicted or take care of a sick child. How longion becomes are we satisfied with taking dual . Is making do enough when we can do better . Countries with far fewer resources than we have managed to craft policies that serve their economy as well as their citizens. Why cant we do that . Issues,th the other paid leave is as much an opportunity to promote economics , the social, familial, wellbeing. The interest of our citizens in that way. Established it is clearly been done, the need or what is a national need, how do we make it a national priority. Thank you so much. [applause] congresswoman, we know the stats, 70 Million People cant afford the health care they need. Moreyear, we need 32,000 healthcare workers to make sure folks have the care they need. People lose 20 billion because they dont have access to family leave and sick leave. If you could address the economy and what it means to have a medicare for all system . Many of you came here because of the specific issue in many folks seem to talk about medicare for all. Here, it isu hear about creating a caring economy. It is not only do we want medicare for all that will cover longterm care . But who can provide the longterm care . Who can we employ to make sure they have Human Dignity as well, not just the people we care for. We want to make sure those in the workforce, creating a caring ouromy and making sure that folks when they want to take care of their families, that they are now back at work within a week. Setting these values around families. It is about expanding access to care. We always talk about coverage. We talk about making sure people are covered. What does that actually entail . Does that entail the people who will take care of our neighbors that need this . Who are the people in the workforce that need coverage and paid sick leave . It is very important as we talk not only about the care for all but all of the other elements that we have been fighting for, especially around a workforce that is really lacking. Making sure they have fair wages and so. In the same brett that we are talking about other things, 90 of us prefer to age in our homes. I didnt even need to see that statistic. They dont want to leave their homes. We want to support that. Of workers currently in the United States right now have access to paid family leave through an employer. Think about that for one moment. People are one accident away. People have to choose their child. Nearly one quarter of moms go back to work within two weeks. Returned of four men to jobs after one week or less after having a child. American families lose 20 billion in lost wages because they lack access to paid sick leave. It goes on and on. I think we get it here. Especially in my district. It is supported, overwhelmingly. Support 10 voters revenue to support a family medical leave program. Eight in 10. They want the kind of support to make sure people are in a humane system. That the folks around them are treated with dignity. It is important, pushback. If theres anything we want to pay into, it is a system that works for all of us. Every single one of us will end up having to touch a care worker. We will have to touch a child or worker that has access to sick leave. Care in ourhealth country. That we create the caring economy, caring system that is important. Coverage is not enough. Thank you. Thank you congresswoman. Is important, like you mentioned, that the people who are caring for us are not getting sick. They need to take time off or they are not stressed so they can take a day or two off. All of you really talked about the need to make sure we have a comprehensive Health Care System that covers everyone, no matter what. Doesnt matter if you are rich or poor. To make sure you have access to health care. When folks get older or have a longterm illness, they provide the care they need and youre making sure the folks giving that care are treated with respect. Have at least a 15 minimum wage, access way union. That parents have access to Something Like child data. If you are a single dad you can take care of your child and work. If you are providing that childcare, that you get the respect and dignity that you deserve. Talking about the longterm care. We have two things on the table. Caregiver economy encompassing everything we talked about right now. Then we have medicare for all. Todays event is a community conversation. We have a panelist up here to listen to all of you. In order to make this as fair as possible we will take a question from here and russian from there. If you have one raise your hand and i will come over and talk to you. Most questions will be directed towards the congresswoman. Tag in any of these incredible folks. Im sure they have a lot of insight. Dont fall asleep. [laughter] make sure you listen. Ght. Ill start off to my ri if you raise your hand, i will walk over to you and we will j ump to the other side. State your name, a quick reason why you are here and your question. My name is kris. Thank you very much for being here this evening. The question i have i feel like i am part of the caring majority and support all of these issues. I think some of the pushback i hear when i talk to neighbors and friend is not that t