Absolutely. Some of these women, especially in the last week, have [Technical difficulty—Editor] by the dozen, saying they can't do it anymore. What's sad about that is that the home care services they provide [Technical difficulty—Editor] at home. It's a financially responsible way to deliver services in the province.
Yes, they end up paying to go to work. That is what they've said to me. At $16.50 an hour, when they were getting paid only for the time they were in the client's home and not for the travel between clients, with gas being almost $2 per litre and when they were paying for their own gas, it didn't seem reasonable or sustainable for them to be providing this essential service. It cost them money. They were losing money by going to work. As I said, dozens have quit home care, which we should be concerned about.
When it comes to groceries, I've talked to caregivers who talk about how they provided food for their children and ate one meal a day because they couldn't afford to buy enough groceries for the entire family.