Home health care worker Brittany Williams made sure she was going to be at the Rainier Beach Community Center on a bright, crisp Saturday morning.

“We work face-to-face with our clients, unable to social distance,” Williams said. “That’s why today, I, like so many others have come to receive my vaccine.

 “I want to reassure you guys, that we have an opportunity to change the tide of COVID,” Williams added. “Caregivers have been fighting and continue to fight to be seen as the essential workers that we are. After winning PPE and hazardous pay and being prioritized today as essential workers by the City of Seattle, it’s a big deal to us.”

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Seattle’s first-ever pop-up coronavirus vaccine clinic went off without a hitch as home healthcare workers received their first dose of the vaccine.

It was an invitation-only clinic to vaccinate those caring for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

So eager were the caregivers to get vaccinated, they came early. The clinic wrapped up at about 5 p.m., with a lot of caregivers getting vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan eagerly kicked off the clinic’s opening.

“The city of Seattle is working together in partnership with so many people to make this happen,” said Durkan, “because we know vaccinations are our hope.”

That partnership included SEIU Local 775. That’s how Mary Guski learned about the clinic and why she was able to get her vaccine.

Watch and read more at KIRO 7

Home-care providers for older Washingtonians and people with disabilities are pushing back on potential cuts to the state’s long-term care services.

The Department of Health and Human Services has been asked to consider cuts, since the pandemic has shot a hole in the state budget. It could mean a $1.1 billion reduction in long-term care services for the 2021 through 2023 budget.

Miranda Bridges, an individual provider and member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 775 who cares for her mother, said lawmakers should consider how many people access these services.

“It may come a time for them, or maybe for somebody else that they care about, that they’re going to need somebody to be there for their loved ones,” Bridges explained. “But if they keep cutting and keep taking away the hours from the home-care workers, it’s going to be really tough.”

State lawmakers are looking at a $3.3 billion budget shortfall through 2023, according to a forecast from last year.

Read more at Public News Service