Allison Brookhart is a mother, a home health care agency worker, and this week—an advocate.

“You know, you walk around the capitol building and it’s, it's somewhat intimidating,” Brookhart said, who works for Bayada in Towanda, Pennsylvania. “But you actually get to speak to the legislators, and I think that’s neat."

Brookhart’s son has special needs, and has used home health care since he was two. It’s an industry that is shrinking, leaving Pennsylvanians with disabilities with limited options for independence.

“I don't think a lot of people understand it's more than just taking care of a child. They become part of your family,” Brookhart said.

Over 400 people were stuffed into the capitol this week, advocating for higher wages for home health care workers.

“We cannot find people to do the jobs that are needed, to support people with disabilities living in their home,” Shona Eakin, CEO of Voices for Independent, a home care agency group based in Erie, “Because we can't pay. We can't compete with Sheetz.”

The average hourly wage for home care health workers right now is $13-$15 an hour. Eakin says West Virginia is paying $5 higher on average for their workers.

There are 140,000 Pennsylvanians with disabilities who use their medicaid coverage to get care at home.

“Fiscally, it is actually cheaper for people to live in their homes than it is to pay for services for someone in a hospital or a nursing home or an institution,” Kelly Barrett said, who is 2025 Ms. Wheelchair Pennsylvania.

In the 2025/26 budget, Governor Josh Shapiro proposed a 12% increase to part of the home health care system, consumer directed services.

“He did not fund agency home care. And 96% of Pennsylvanians, myself included, rely on agency home care,” Eakin said. "It's time for change. The system is broken, it's fragmented, and they're making us fight for workers.”