Workers at an Oakland County nursing home formally filed to unionize Thursday, three days after they walked off the job in a single-day strike over staffing, resources and unfair labor practices.
The workers at SKLD nursing home in Bloomfield Hills aim to join SEIU Healthcare Michigan, the state's largest healthcare union.
Maria Tuttle used to have to help her ailing, elderly mother into a wheelchair and drive her to each medical appointment and hospital visit. Now, though, Ann D'Andrea, 95, gets medical care, from routine checkups to X-rays, in her Bethpage home, in a pioneering program funded by Medicare.
SEIU Healthcare Michigan is under a trusteeship for the second time in five years over claims of financial mismanagement, according to a letter from its international parent organization, which has installed new overseers.
In the early 2000s, SEIU locals across the country, including its Michigan affiliate, enrolled family caregivers as members, usually without their consent.
The law now prohibits unions from forcing home-based day care providers and home health caregivers to sign up and pay union dues.
Long-term care facilities continue to be among the most common settings for reported COVID-19 outbreaks in Michigan, though health officials say that's to be expected.
A nursing home in Marion, Ark., is battling a COVID-19 outbreak.
Willowbend Healthcare and Rehabilitation holds 112 residents. As COVID case data continues to show both dips and spikes regionally, in recent weeks numbers appear to be on the rise and nursing homes could be taking a hit.
Long-term care ombudsman Patty Ducayet worries about nursing home residents left waiting on staff for help getting out of bed or to a bath.
Ducayet testified before the Texas House Human Services Committee on Tuesday, as the lawmakers considered ways to improve the lives and safety of people living and working in long-term care facilities. The committee largely focused on workforce challenges and staff retention issues facing the industry.