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A shortage of nurses, aides and other staff at nursing homes across Maine is worsening amid a deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has exacerbated the industry’s long-standing workforce challenges in the nation’s oldest state.
“The situation is dire,” said John Orestis, president and CEO of North Country Associates, the state’s largest Maine-based long-term care provider. “North Country, between the homes that it owns and manages, has 26 buildings and I would say a large majority … of them have extremely difficult situations.”
More than one third of nursing homes in Maine reported shortages of both nurses and aides at the beginning of this month, while more than 20 percent were short on other staff, according to reports filed with federal regulators.