Cynthia Primus, a resident of Boston, takes care of a woman who, in later life, is paralyzed and needs round-the-clock help. That involves turning her over three times each day, making sure she takes her meds, and trying to keep her as comfortable as possible.

Of clients like this one, Cynthia says: “You show them love,” she says. “If you are not nice to them, they get worse.”

Were a member of my family sick at home, or disabled and in need of help, I would hope to have on my team someone just like Cynthia Primus. Of her experience with providing care, she says: “It makes you happy to know that you have made someone comfortable.”

A native of Trinidad, Cynthia is one of some 22,000 personal care attendants in Massachusetts. In 2006, the state legislature unanimously recognized their right to join a union.

It was about time. These workers badly needed to be able to bargain for improved wages and benefits. Right now, they receive altogether inadequate pay for difficult and indispensable work.

They have no compensation for sick days, holidays, vacations, and other basics for a decent work life. It is especially ironic that some of them do not even have health insurance themselves.

Currently, local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, is negotiating with the state on their behalf. Last week, they had a meeting with members of the PCA Quality Home Care Workforce Council, the group established to make recommendations to the governor.

Despite the meager financial rewards they receive, the PCAs have an essential role in the home care system. And, though this fact is not known to the public at large, they save money for all of us.

Were it not for workers like Cynthia Primus, more people would have to go into nursing homes. Moreover, most people want very much to continue living in their own homes.

This sentiment is echoed by another home care provider, Cambridge resident Menen Tesfamarian. This middle-aged woman originally came from Ethiopia, and has worked here since 1995.

Like others in her field, Menen feels pride in her work; but she also feels that society places altogether too little value on it. “The pay is not good, compared with the work we do,” she says.

One of her two clients is a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. For her, Menen has to do just about everything: heavy lifting, feeding, washing and other life-preserving tasks. Most days, she works for this woman from 10 AM to 7:30 PM ─ a long day, but Menen feels happy about enabling her client to stay in her own home.

I met another personal care provider, Marie Ciampa of Medford, at the State House, where she was one of many union members seeking better pay and benefits. “People don’t recognize mine as a real job,” she told me. “The public does not realize how important our work is and the government doesn’t either.”

To make me believe in the importance of home care workers, all I had to do was look at the people in motorized chairs who turned out for the rally. Some had long-term severe disabilities that clearly require constant care.

Marie thinks the public might feel differently if others only knew the importance of having workers like her enabling people to stay in their communities and to retain some role there.

The woman sitting next to Marie at the rally, Daleese Williams, an immigrant from Jamaica, now living in Haverhill, spoke about recently needing knee surgery. That kept her off the job for three weeks during which time, of course, she had no pay.

What strikes me about the providers of home care with whom I talked is their whole-hearted dedication to their clients. They speak of those they serve with respect and affection. Though they are aware of the meager support they themselves receive from society, they remain whole-heartedly committed to the people they help.

Many, like three of the four that I have cited, are immigrants who arrived in this country in search of a better life. This they have found in the work they offer; unfortunately, however, some of them are also reduced to a marginal level of security for themselves and their families.

American society often defies understanding. Despite our good impulses, we tend to value wealth and celebrity over the contributions of people like those I mention here.

The Quality Council that will advise the Governor had a meeting last week with union representatives but it was inconclusive. The workers hope for a more generous offer than the 76 cent an hour increase offered up to now.

If you share my concern about these workers and their clients, you can call the governor’s office at (617) 725-4005. You can simply say that you want personal care providers to receive decent pay and benefits.

Richard Griffin