Health Care Industry Forum At Tietz Center

Addresses Staffing Crisis In Nursing Homes
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"We are here to listen, not to talk," Cohen said.
One after another, the nursing care professionals, as well as management, represented at the meeting by the Tietz Center president and CEO Kenneth Brown, came up to the podium and painted a gloomy picture of the industry that is suffocating from the lack of qualified caregivers.
"This is not a crisis, this is an epidemic," said Mary Monroe, certified nurses aide (CNA)at Midway Nursing Home. "At times, there are no more than two CNAs for 40 patients on one floor. What kind of care can we give with such ratio?"
Monroe added that requests to the management to do something about the situation simply bounce back to the providers.
"They [the management] say, try your best," she said. "They say, do your job. This is not a job. I dont want to do a job. I want to take care of my patients."
With some nursing home residents topping 180 pounds, Monroe also said there is a pressing need for more equipment that would assist caregivers in helping their patients more effectively. She added that the difficulties encountered by the nursing staff on the job are compounded by the stress and abuse they receive from dissatisfied relatives of their patients.
"Relatives are screaming, I brought my mother here so you would take proper care of her. They dont care that were short [of staff]. But we cannot perform miracles."
Gemma Simmons, Certified Nurses Aide at Franklin Nursing Home, expressed similar feelings about the current situation and urged the management to remember that the healthcare and nursing home care industry is not just about numbers.
"We are not dealing with beds, but with human beings lying in the beds," Simmons said. "People should receive care when they need it, not when we are able to give it to them. When patients are unattended for periods of time, this is not care." She proceeded to urge lawmakers present to take measures to solve the crisis not only for the sake of nursing professionals, but nursing home residents as well.
"Were not asking for anything that is not required," Simmons said. "Legislators should do what is just, what is dignified for the residents."
Industry representatives stressed that, more than in any other area, nursing care requires establishing close personal relations between the staff and the clients. For the residents, they said, quality of care for the most part equals quality of life.
"Its important to develop personal relations with residents," said Joseph DAmico, president of the Residents Council at the Margaret Tietz Center. "They look at caregivers as family. With the proper number of nurses, patients would not only receive better care but also would be able to lead better lives."
Jack Kunz, chairman of the Family and Friends Council at the Margaret Tietz Center, added that nursing homes cannot be compared to regular hospitals when it comes to the type of care the nursing staff must provide.
"Hospitals release patients when they feel better," Kunz said. "Nursing homes do not release patients. As the population of the nursing homes grows and the number of nurses remains the same, the problem grows."
Therefore, Kunz concluded, additional staff is essential. "More staffing would mean more personal care. More staffing would mean nurses more knowledgeable in administering medications to separate patients," he said.
When speaking about the state of the industry, Margaret Tietzs Brown presented some numbers from the survey done by the Greater New York Hospital Assoc. According to the survey, 40 percent of all the nursing homes in the borough reported vacancies of 10 percent of the total staff or higher, with the national average standing at 15 percent. More than 70 percent of the nursing homes said it is "extremely hard" for them to recruit new people. In addition, none of the newcomers to the profession have the kind of experience and skills that the industry veterans possess.
"I cannot replace quality when a person retires with a new body I hire," Brown said. "We have to create financial incentives, like tuition reimbursement and longevity centers to keep consistency in the marketplace. Young people need to be educated and trained to do an effective job. Right now, few people have the concept of what it is to be a healthcare nursing provider."
For this, Brown said, a large financial investment is necessary.
"There isnt going to be long-term care in the future if theres not enough dollars to train new people and to retain the present ones," he said. "Dollars dont come from the executives of the nursing homes. They come from the governor. Almost one billion dollars worth of revenue has been taken out of the industry. There is a need for the Assembly to concentrate on the dollars that already came out of the system. And one letter from me doesnt do the trick, but letters from everyone in the field might do the trick."
Mary Johnson of the GNYHA said the nursing homes themselves should play a more active role to solve the current crisis.
"Its in the managements interest to sometime use their profits to improve the staffing situation instead of waiting for the state legislature to provide funding," she said.
The Healthcare Education Project has been seeking and recently received an increase of $100 million in Medicaid money for recruiting and hiring more nurses and other staff members for the states 676 nursing homes. However, some said at the meeting, this money is just the beginning. According to John Seals, vice president and area director for the 1199 SEIU Nursing Home Division, money needed to treat just two of the most common maladies among nursing homes residents incontinence and bed sores reaches as much as $4.4 billion annually.