I have always been in awe of how New Hampshire’s caregivers work tirelessly to care for our seniors, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to devastate our communities and our economy. Truly, they are heroes. Despite the many challenges of the pandemic health crisis, our caregivers still show up every day for our seniors, while the president has turned his back on them at a time when they need his leadership the most.

Seniors deserve much better. That is especially true here in New Hampshire – a state with one of the oldest populations in the country and the state with the highest rate of nursing home deaths from COVID-19. But our seniors’ health and safety depends to a great extent on the health of the people who help care for them. We must make sure those who are caring for our seniors are taken care of too. Regrettably, Trump has proven he is not up to the task.

First, Trump has left our caregivers behind by pushing a scheme to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and end protections for 572,000 people in New Hampshire with pre-existing conditions, raise health care costs for our 300,000 seniors enrolled in Medicare, and leave the nearly 57,000 Granite Staters covered under Medicaid expansion without access to care. Caregivers and their patients need support now more than ever, but Trump and Republicans are moving full steam ahead with their lawsuit that would kick tens of thousands of Granite Staters off insurance and undermine a strained health care system grappling with a public health crisis.

Second, while our home health aides and caregivers are some of the lowest paid workers in the country, Trump refuses to raise the minimum wage and pay them fairly for their work. Our caregivers work long, arduous hours to provide quality, loving care to our seniors and balance a second or third job, all while caring for their own families. At a time when our caregivers are working even more to support our seniors, it is inexcusable that Donald Trump refuses to lead on wage increases for them.

Finally, Trump has put our caregivers in harm’s way by refusing to follow the advice of health experts throughout the coronavirus crisis. From the beginning, he has downplayed the severity of COVID-19 along with Governor Sununu, who has even called the virus the flu. Not only is that irresponsible, it puts our seniors and the men and women who care for them at great risk. And while nursing homes account for more than 80% of all coronavirus deaths in New Hampshire, the Trump administration has failed to provide our nursing homes with universal testing or timely results and has left caregivers in nursing homes without critical personal protective equipment they need to do their jobs safely. In fact, even as experts warned of a coming pandemic, Trump allowed a record number of N95 masks to be sent overseas. Donald Trump has proven that he is incapable of meeting this moment with much-needed action. As coronavirus cases continue to surge across the nation, our heroes on the frontlines of this pandemic, including our caregivers here in the Granite State, deserve a president who will fight for them with the same vigor as they fight every day to keep our communities healthy.

But Trump has failed them. He has had every chance to step up, do his job, and put the urgent needs of working Granite Staters first. Instead, his lack of empathy, incompetence and inability to put anyone before himself continues to endanger our caregivers’ health and security. Our frontline workers deserve better than to be treated as collateral damage in Trump’s desperate attempts to cling to office. It’s the most basic expectation of a president, but Donald Trump has proven incapable of living up to it.

Now more than ever, Granite Staters need a leader in the White House who will support our caregivers and the aging population they care for every day. This November, we have the opportunity to elect Joe Biden who will be the leader that our seniors and our caregivers need. Joe Biden has shown us time and again that he will fight to protect the Affordable Care Act and will work to expand quality, affordable health care to Granite Staters, not tear it down. He will work for our caregivers by rapidly implementing the AARP-endorsed Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act at the federal level, which will ensure our caregivers have the information they need to properly care for our loved ones when they are in the community. And Joe Biden will support measures to give our caregivers access to respite care, so they can take the time they need to care for themselves as well. This week, he introduced a plan that will expand access to dignified care for our seniors, including our nation’s veterans and those living with disabilities, and invest in our nation’s caregivers by giving them the pay, support, and benefits they deserve.

Joe Biden believes that American workers, including the men and women on the frontlines of care during this pandemic, are the heart and soul of this country. He will be the leader that our seniors and our caregivers need.

Sen. Cindy Rosenwald represents Nashua in the New Hampshire Senate.

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