LOWER MERION -- On Tuesday, May 25, thousands of nursing home workers at 41 facilities across Pennsylvania, including those in Wynnewood, rallied to demand better staffing and other improvements to the nursing home industry that will save lives.
âShort staffing not only hurts us, it hurts the people weâre responsible for and care for -- our residents deserve better,â said Tisheia Frazier, a CNA at Saunders House in Wynnewood. âAnd offering us hotdogs and candy is not a way to improve working conditions, it's an insult. Pay us what we are worth!â
For decades, caregivers have sounded the alarm on chronic and dangerous understaffing, poor recruitment and retention of workers, and unacceptable conditions which created a system that could not withstand a global pandemic. PA ranks as one of the worst states for COVID nursing home deaths, having lost over 13,000 residents since the pandemic began.