When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, the Ohio Living Westminster-Thurber retirement community in Columbus saw staff leave, expenses rise and the burden of caring for residents increase. Finding the personal protective equipment was challenging. Just dealing with the various changes in regulations and requirements that were coming out, normally on a daily basis. was packed, said Bob Stillman, chief financial officer at Ohio Living. We were offering appreciation pay for hours work. Our overtime hours skyrocketed.
Like other skilled nursing facilities, those under Ohio Living were financially ravaged by COVID-19. Almost 45% of Ohio Living residents pay with Medicaid, one of the largest payers in the long-term care market. But Medicaid s government-set rates often don t cover the full costs.
and last updated 2021-07-09 19:24:14-04
CLEVELAND â Jill Herron, a third-generation nursing home administrator, faces an unpredictable dilemma in the midst of the current labor shortage. I never expected this, thereâs always been times where you have a few slots we needed to fill, but this is unprecedented, said Herron.
A June 2021 American Health Care Association survey found 94% of nursing home providers experienced staff shortages.
Herron is the owner and administrator of Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin and said her staffing ebbs and flows. Our staffing isnât where we want it. Weâve been fortunate, weâve been able to still accommodate and still have good staffing ratios,â said Herron. But as we admit more residents, which weâre hoping to do, we need a stronger workforce to pull from.
Ohio nursing homes struggling with low staffing
Peter Van Runkle, who runs the Ohio Health Care Association, says one way to solve the labor shortage in nursing homes is to pay more. Author: Kevin Landers Updated: 6:40 PM EDT July 6, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio Low staffing is among the top validated reasons why families complain about the state’s nursing homes.
“The top complaints we get are really indicative of staffing such as symptoms unattended, cold food, slow response to calls for help,” says Beverley Laubert, Ohio Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
The average starting salary for a state-tested nursing assistant is between $15 and $18 per hour, according to the Ohio Health Care Association which represents one thousand assisted living communities, home care and hospice service providers across the state.
Riverview Healthcare sets rare national Covid-19 standard for blocking virus
“While we knew we were a rarity, we did not realize how much of a rarity we were,” said Kendra German. The Administrator of Ottawa County Riverview Healthcare, German recently discovered the facility was one of only 64 nursing homes in the country to not suffer a Covid-19 outbreak.
The news broke in the article “Most SNF’s hit by COVID 3x” by Kimberly Marselas of McKnight’s Long Term Care News in June. SNF stands for Skilled Nursing Facilities, the terminology used by the Centers of Medicare/Medicaid Services for Nursing Homes.
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