Nursing homes struggle with staffing during outbreaks

Some nursing homes in New York have been hit hard by the COVID-19 surge this winter, struggling to find enough staff as workers get sick and need quarantine. Stated.

As of early January, approximately 80 nursing homes reported a shortage of nurses, according to an analysis of the latest federal and state data by the Associated Press. Mostly in western and parts of central New York, the first serious outbreak of the virus began in late fall.

According to administrator Christine Schaller, a core group of nurses worked in two shifts during the weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas at Rochester’s Pearl Orphanage.

“Some people don’t take a day off,” she said. “That’s how we survived.”

The 120-bed nursing home did not see the first COVID-19 case until October. Since then, 14 inhabitants have died of the disease. At least 40 staff are ill, according to federal data.

“For some people, they were so scary that they just couldn’t work, and they were so scary,” she said. “I have staff with long-term physical health problems due to COVID. They have recovered from their illness, but they still have probably lifelong respiratory problems.”

Stephen Hans, president and chief executive officer of the New York State Medical Facilities Association and the New York State Support and Living Center, said he was suffering from a shortage of staff who tested positive for the virus.

“It’s really hard. They’re doing everything they can to get enough staff in the facility,” Hans said.

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Recently, the number of new COVID-19 cases has leveled off in New York, but the state has recorded nearly 600,000 new infections and 6,800 deaths since December 1.

Fees are particularly high at nursing homes. At least 1,700 residents of COVID-19 have died in nursing homes since December 1, according to state numbers. This figure probably underestimates the number of deaths, as New York does not report the number of nursing home residents who died after being transferred to a hospital.

According to federal records, at least 13 staff members in the state’s 600 nursing homes have also died of COVID-19 since December 1.

During that time, about 7,600 nursing home workers became ill. This includes more than 100 infections among staff of the 513-bed Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Syracuse, more than 90 infections of more than 90 staff of the 350-bed Long Island State Veterans Home, and among the staff of The 145 beds Includes at least 65 infections. Brighton Highlands in Rochester, according to federal tally.

Nursing home residents and staff have been vaccinated since late December, but distribution is progressing slower than expected.

As of mid-January, approximately 37 percent of nursing home workers and two-thirds of residents in the state had been vaccinated at least once.

New York state health agencies relaxed some restrictions in late December to allow most asymptomatic health care workers around those who obtained COVID-19 to return to work after a 10-day quarantine period. I made it.

However, in nursing homes and homes with long-term care, the standards are more stringent. Workers who may have been exposed to COVID-19 must be away from work for 14 days unless the nursing home receives special approval from the state for workers with negative test results.

“It really ran out of staff,” said Jim Kline, executive director of Leading Age, a leading non-profit, government-run nursing home. “We are scrambling.”

Nursing homes use temporary staffing agencies, but prices can be exorbitant.

“We can also see temporary staffing companies using pandemics and demanding very high prices for temporary staff,” Hans said. “I recently heard that an out-of-state staffing agency came in from Vermont and had to pay $ 65 an hour for a certified nursing assistant.”

Meanwhile, the Ten Broeck Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing in Lake Katrine offers a $ 2,000 sign-on bonus to full-time certified nursing assistants starting at $ 15.25 per hour.

The state has call centers and online staff portals for nursing homes and hospitals facing shortages, but nursing home operators say they are still struggling to get help.

Terri Piombo, vice president of admissions and marketing for Upstate Services Group, which operates 14 nursing homes in New York, said some potential workers are willing to treat patients with COVID-19.

Nursing home operators said they weren’t very lucky to hire retired nurses and doctors as volunteers. This is an option advertised by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Bruce Gendron, Vice President of the Grand Healthcare System based in Buffalo, NY, said: “I don’t know if we’ve had a lot of success in bringing back workers.” I think part of the problem is that retired workers are usually at risk. “

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