Nearly three years after COVID-19 began decimating staffing levels at long-term care facilities nationwide, the health care sector hardest hit by the pandemic is beginning to see employment numbers rise. Leaders at local senior facilities say they have bolstered their staffs over the last year but still must rely on nursing agencies to fill many positions — an expensive solution. “I’d say the biggest challenge during the pandemic was with recruiting and retaining nursing assistants and medical technicians,” said Phil Golden, executive director and principal at Springwell in Baltimore’s Mount Washington neighborhood. “The team here did band together and we made it through, but it was definitely a challenge.”
Enhabit, Inc., a leading home health and hospice provider, today announced the acquisition of Southwest Florida Home Care, Inc.’s home health agency located in Fort Myers, Fla. "We are excited to welcome the Southwest Florida Home Care employees to our Enhabit team," Enhabit President and CEO Barb Jacobsmeyer says. "We look forward to continuing to support our new team members as we serve more patients in need of high-quality home health services." This acquisition increases Enhabit’s existing footprint in Florida, which now totals 22 home health locations. The Fort Myers location will expand Enhabit’s ability to serve the communities of southwest Florida.
Staff at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) discussed the need to bolster the state’s long-term care workforce and wages during a Joint Legislative Executive Committee on Planning for Aging and Disability Issues meeting on Tuesday. Bea Rector, Assistant Secretary of DSHS’s Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, said workforce shortages have led to long-term care clients waiting longer than they ever have to access needed services. “We are averaging about 60 days for somebody new to services to get an in-home paid care provider,” Rector said. “Or if somebody loses a paid care provider, it might be as many as 60 days to get a new one. In some of our geographic areas the wait might be closer to four months. And in rural areas, or with individuals with complex needs, it can be longer.”
Maplewood Senior Living has announced that all three Maplewood Senior Living communities in Ohio are winners of Caring.com’s Best Senior Living: Caring Stars 2023 awards, recognizing the top-rated senior living communities in the nation. The recipients of the awards include Maplewood at Chardon in Geauga County, Maplewood at Cuyahoga Falls in Summit County, and Maplewood at Twinsburg, also in Summit County, Ohio. The annual Caring Stars award helps seniors and their families find the best senior living communities, nursing homes, and senior care agencies in the United States.
When one of the biggest owners of Pennsylvania nursing homes, Welltower Inc., announced this month that new companies would take over the day-to-day management at 147 nursing homes in 15 states, it was no great surprise. The nonprofit ProMedica Senior Care, the current operator of the Welltower nursing homes, including 38 in Pennsylvania and seven in New Jersey, has lost massive amounts of money in the last two years, including $316 million in the first nine months of 2022. What’s puzzling to advocates for the elderly and others who closely watch the nursing home industry is that the company Welltower is bringing in to facilitate the shift to new operators is unknown in the world of nursing homes, even to industry veterans.
Caring for seniors means sacrifice, diligence and unwavering commitment to a cause — and that is exactly what the caregivers at Colorado’s long-term care communities possess and display each and every day. As a regional nurse for Stellar Senior Living, I see firsthand the dedication that goes into caring for our residents. Each senior in our care becomes like family, brightening our days with their jokes and stories and giving each of our careers a distinct feeling of purpose as we give them the highest quality of care they not only require but also so greatly deserve. We have fought a global pandemic, but a new challenge has emerged as we now face a historic labor crisis. There are significant workforce shortages within the long-term care sector, which have been magnified by a pandemic-induced exodus of workers. Now, the Biden administration is considering implementing an unfunded federal minimum staffing mandate on nursing homes which will make this challenge considerably worse.