For many Connecticut nursing homes, the next few years will be about survival.
Along with unprecedented staffing shortages and less-than-ideal occupancy rates, nursing home operators are also facing a state Department of Social Services that is intent on “right-sizing” the industry by directing money away from nursing homes and toward home care programs.
Rep. Jane Garibay, co-chair of the legislature’s Aging Committee, said problems with care in nursing homes have been going on for years. “This is not new, and it’s not just because of COVID. COVID shined a light on what is happening, but it is our responsibility to change it.”
Not long after John Interlandi began visiting his brother Joe, known as “Bubba,” in a Connecticut nursing home, he noticed that care was lacking.
“I visited Bubba on three occasions within the first week,” he wrote to legislators. “On each occasion, I found his pants and/or bed linen soiled in urine and the temperature on his floor was well over 80 degrees.