Contract work or permanent, which would you take? after 17 years as a home health aide

The pay is fair but there are no benefits. This is my first time dealing with any of this. I would gain recent experience. What would you do?

I took a contract and it converted after four months. The time also kept my skills current.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 6 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.