The New York Times: She Had to Choose: Her Epileptic Patient or Her 7-Year-Old Daughter

Women on the Front Lines


When New York City closed its public schools, Cindy Urena, a home health aide for Sunnyside Community Services in Queens, faced a choice: stop seeing a client with severe epilepsy or leave her 7-year-old daughter alone at home.

Ms. Urena, 39, earns $15 an hour, and like half of New York City’s direct care workers, relies on food stamps even when she is working.

She made her choice. Now she has no income at all.

Read the full piece here.