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The COVID-19 pandemic created “crisis”-level worker shortages at many U.S. long-term care facilities and nursing homes, as workers were sidelined by illness, quarantine or childcare challenges. But a review by the News4 I-Team found it also exposed long-term staffing shortages that many experts say are likely to remain even after the pandemic subsides.
“The workforce shortage in health care predates the pandemic, but the pandemic shone a bright light on it and made it way worse,” said Joe DeMattos, president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. “Job No. 1 in health care right now … but specifically in nursing homes and assisted living, is workforce development, workforce recruitment and workforce retention.”
Randy Gerlach is president and CEO of Schofield Care, which operates a 120-bed nursing home in Kenmore.
The Schofield Residence is rated four stars by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, meaning it’s considered above average. Yet it doesn’t quite meet the new safe staffing bill’s mandate of 3.5 care hours per resident per day.
“Are they working smarter, not harder? And if they are, why are we going to penalize them, to add cost when they re already doing a very good job?” Gerlach said.
Like nursing home operators, advocates for nursing home residents also worry the bill won’t actually improve care, but for much different reasons. They say 3.5 hours isn’t enough.
COVID forces families to rethink nursing home care
By Reed Abelson New York Times,Updated May 9, 2021, 4:15 a.m.
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Diane Nixon, 86, in her efficiency apartment in her daughter Heidi Dolanâs house in Oakmont, Pa., on April 20, 2021. Even with vaccines, many older people and their relatives are weighing how to manage at-home care for those who can no longer live independently.Kristian Thacker/NYT
At 86, Diane Nixon, living in an apartment at the back of a daughterâs house, no longer drives and has trouble getting around.
When her health worsened last year before the coronavirus pandemic, she and all four of her daughters talked about whether a nursing home would be the next step. She worried that she had become a burden to her children.
N.Y. lawmakers pass safe staffing bills for hospitals, nursing homes
Consumer advocacy groups say legislation doesn t go far enough to protect patients, residents
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1of5Buy Photo1199SEIU nursing home workers hold a demonstrations at the entrance to the Schenectady Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 in Schenectady, N.Y. Nursing home workers are holding demonstrations and vigils at more than 20 nursing homes across New York State, calling for greater transparency and investment in quality resident care. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)Lori Van Buren/Albany Times UnionShow MoreShow Less
2of5Buy Photo1199SEIU nursing home workers hold a demonstrations at the entrance to the Schenectady Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 in Schenectady, N.Y. Nursing home workers are holding demonstrations and vigils at more than 20 nursing homes across New York State, calling for greater transparency and invest
Covid Forces Families to Rethink Nursing Home Care
Even with vaccines, many older people and their relatives are weighing how to manage at-home care for those who can no longer live independently.
Diane Nixon, 86, lives in an efficiency apartment in her daughter Heidi Dolan’s house in suburban Pittsburgh.Credit.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times
Published May 6, 2021Updated May 8, 2021
At 86, Diane Nixon, living in an apartment at the back of a daughter’s house, no longer drives and has trouble getting around.
When her health worsened last year before the coronavirus pandemic, she and all four of her daughters talked about whether a nursing home would be the next step. She worried that she had become a burden to her children.