| No Images? Click here   Carley Perez, a 26-year-old New Yorker who started working in the health care industry right after she graduated from high school, isn’t afraid of the intimate moments that home care workers must share with patients.“I have changed adult diapers. Cleaned penises. You have to expect nudity,” Perez told HuffPost recently. She emphasized that she enjoyed her work caring for adults with developmental disabilities and started volunteering to help kids with autism back when she was in high school.But one of Perez’s male patients took that personal relationship too far.Workers like Perez are paid a minimum wage and offered little by way of workers' rights. Emily Peck, HuffPost's reporter who covers gender and economics, dove into how home aide workers -- one of the fastest growing professions in the country -- are finding themselves in vulnerable situations, just like Perez did, with little recourse. Read what happened to Perez here and how Peck reported the story below.What was the seed for this story?I’ve done several stories on women who’ve been sexually harassed or discriminated against at work. I’ve been wanting especially to examine the lives of women with lower-paying and less glamorous jobs. A lawyer familiar with my work reached out with Carley Perez’s story. I was really interested in shining a light on home health care workers, as these jobs are a fast-growing part of the economy right now, as the boomers age.What was most challenging about the reporting?Well the biggest challenge was technical. I met Perez at a cafe and we had a great interview. Unfortunately the recording didn’t take. Luckily I am paranoid and took notes and she was kind enough to go through a few more rounds of interviews. It was also challenging to get the context for the piece—there’s no hard data out there on how often this happens.What was most surprising?I was surprised at how harshly she was treated by her employer. That they didn’t try to help her deal with a difficult patient did shock me. It seemed to signify that these workers are treated as disposable. It was frustrating that her employer wouldn’t talk to me.Anything you want to add?I hope with the amplification that #MeToo provides that the media continues to tell stories about low-income women and harassment. They need our help and empathy.
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