The demand for nursing home staff has never been higher—but with COVID-19, industry officials admit 'you're asking them to run into the fire.'
From Washington to Virginia, nursing homes have struggled to keep residents safe from the coronavirus. Lawmakers have cited several reasons, from lacking the proper precautions to supplies.As the residents and staff at the Suwanee Health and Rehabilitation Center in Florida started testing positive for themid-March, Brandy Kinsey said she began confronting an impossible choice – keep her job or protect her life.
“When we look at bringing people on board, you’re asking them to run into the fire... into something that is unknown," said Mark Gloth, the medical director for HCR Manorcare, one of the nation’s largest providers of nursing and long-term care. “The health care worker shortage is real, and it is particularly concerning in the skilled nursing facilities where we are caring for the frailest of the frail.
Dr. Jim Wright, who is medical director at Canterbury, told ABC News that as the virus began to spread at his facility, he immediately realized staffing would be a concern. Employment agencies and training schools he typically relied on to fill openings were suddenly refusing to send anyone to Canterbury.
A person in protective gear is pictured inside the Brier Oak on Sunset nursing home in Los Angeles, April 18, 2020.April Verett, President of the SEIU chapter in California, a labor union that represents many nursing home workers says many employees at nursing homes are being asked to work in unsafe conditions, without proper protection gear.
He was devastated, and with no income to support his three teenagers, desperate. So, like many who have faced sudden joblessness, Williams began to contemplate work in a much higher-risk setting.
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