Workers spend many hours a day in their vehicles
Alabama is inching toward $5 a gallon for gas, according to AAA. Their latest survey shows prices are up 4 cents since Monday, rising to an average of $4.57 per gallon for regular gasoline.
Those gas prices are impacting one vital business here in Huntsville: In-home health care.
Connie Love fills up her tank, looks at the price and says, "$38.15 for a half a tank for a Ford Fiesta!"
It's an outrageous price for half a tank of gas, especially when driving around Madison County is a major part of Love's job as the director for Always There In-Home Care.
"Doing transportation, going to do client visits, because we go out and visit the clients periodically," explains Love. "Probably the one thing it is hurting the most is people feel like they can't afford to work. Because people making a living wage, it kind of seems like they're just working to pay gas."
Always There In-Home Care currently looks after about 50 clients, but they are looking to expand and take on more.
"I would say our caregivers, depending on how many clients they're seeing, they spend between two to three hours a day (in the car)," says Love.
"Bathing, dressing, helping them groom, cooking a meal. That's nothing that you can really dial in, you know. That's an in-person kind of thing," says Love, explaining the necessity of driving for her line of work. "We have a couple clients that we pick up, we take them to doctors visits, to the grocery store, we have one client that we take to the gym."
With record high gas prices, the 40 caregivers with Always There In-Home Care are struggling to top off their tanks and get to those who need them.
"We have had some caregivers turn down some transportation shifts because of the price of gas, and of course we want to make sure that they don't have to drive a lot. So we try to map them, when they come on board with us, we try to map them with clients that are actually close to their home," says Love.
She says the company pays for time spent in the car and mileage, but the actual gas is paid for by the employee.
"As far as pulling up to the gas station and getting their gas, that comes out of their pocket," says Love.
"People who are earning a living wage, these gas prices are hard on them and, you know, as a small business we can only do so much as far as pay and things of that nature. But we are trying to do what we can to help them," she says.
Always There In-Home Care is increasing wages, paying for time spent in the car, and mapping caregiver routes to the shortest drive time possible. All efforts to try and offset the rising price of gas.
"While the cost of things impacts us, this is what our passion is. So you figure out a way to make it happen," says Love. She says in the end, it's all worth it, since the care they provide to those in Madison County is so vital.
If you or someone you know is in need of in-home care, visit to learn more about their services.
