Jan 21, 2019 2 min read

Carol Jones of Canonsburg has been appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Group on Participant-Directed Home Care. Jones works for Transitional Paths to Independent Living (TRPIL) in the Quality Assurance Department and was a former direct care worker and coal miner. “We are so proud of Carol and her accomplishments,” said Kathleen Kleinmann, TRPIL’s CEO. “She will take her role very seriously on this Governor’s Advisory Group on Participant-Directed Home Care seeking what is best for the worker and the consumer.” The group will meet quarterly with the state Department of Human Services and discuss ways to improve the quality of care delivered to seniors and/or people with a disability that need in-home services. During her tenure as a coal miner, Jones was appointed to a joint committee of the International Bituminous Coal Operators Association to study how the family leave campaign could be enacted. The mining contract wording was approved and then became the United States model for the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993. In 1989, Jones represented the United Mine Workers of America in England for its 100-year celebration of mining. In 1990, she was elected as the executive director on the Coal Employment Project’s Board of Directors. In 2015, Jones aided in winning the right to organize more than 20,000 home care workers across the Commonwealth to become the United Home Care Workers of Pennsylvania (UHWP) as an offshoot of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Honorable Brandon Neuman, a Washington County judge, instituted the oath given to Jones recently for her appointment. TRPIL advocates for the rights of consumers who need in-home services. For information about TRPIL and its programs, visit www.trpil.com.