56 minutes ago

Caryn Nelson stood along Freeport Road in Harmar on Thursday afternoon holding a sign that read “Heroes Deserve Health Care.”

Nelson, 31, of Lower Burrell, is a certified nursing assistant and part of a group of employees of Harmar Village Care Center picketing in front of the facility.

“We aid in keeping people alive,” Nelson said. “We do all the essential tasks of keeping them fed and clothed and bathed, and sometimes it’s physically straining. It’s definitely emotionally straining work. When you add this pandemic on top of it, it’s really taxing.

“We’re having a hard time keeping staff because it’s overwhelming, which means that we’re all doing the work of two or three staff members.”

For all that she does, Nelson said she makes $15 an hour.