HBO to Air Documentary on Certified Nursing Assistant

HBO will air a documentary about Katrina Gilbert, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on March 17.

Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert follows the 30-year-old CNA, a single mother of three, as she tries to make ends meet under difficult financial circumstances.

Despite help from such programs as Earned Income Tax Credit and subsidized childcare, Katrina manages to barely scrape by on her low CNA wages.

Nationwide, nearly half (49 percent) of direct-care workers rely on public benefits to make ends meet, according to PHI research (pdf).

The documentary was produced in association with The Shriver Report‘s “A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink,” a multiplatform project examining financial instability among women and children in the U.S.

— by Matthew Ozga