Nursing home outbreaks lay bare chronic industry problems

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Most troubling, experts say, is that that 75 percent of the nation’s nursing homes don't meet federal suggested minimum levels for staffing and many workers are inexperienced. Four out of five nursing home employees are hourly workers.

FILE - In this March 10, 2020, file photo, a worker wearing protective gear is seen through a window as she works in a room of a woman who has tested positive for the new coronavirus, as her daughters look in from outside the window, at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle.

“Nursing homes would always have been ground zero, but given we already have huge staffing shortages, this will be magnified,” said David Grabowski, a Harvard Medical School professor who has studied staffing problems at homes. “It could be worse for today’s nursing homes than ever.” Sherry Perry, a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home Lebanon, Tennessee, has been working through the coronavirus crisis and believes her employer has been taking extra precautions to prevent infections, such as cleaning hand rails multiple times a day.

Lapses are common even at homes with high government ratings for overall quality. Four of 10 of the highest ranked homes have been cited for infection problems. Among the lowest rated facilities — those with a single star — 8 in 10 have been cited. “One thing this coronavirus has shown is that the enforcement system is way too tolerant of facilities not meeting the standards of care,” she said.

 

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That also happens in Japan where elderly number highest in the world, is now eagerly accepting immigrants from Asian countries to work at nursing home. They are helpful and hard workers. I think Biden will do so next year. Latinos are hard workers.

This isn't news for people who have had a relative in a long term care facility. Those with money hire people to care for family members in their home.

Now all of a sudden this is an interesting story to the media.

All nursing homes should be non for profit. We moved my mother to a non profit home a few months ago and although there are still problems, the level of care has been a huge improvement.

Maybe with this punishment God send now maybe we star thinking better and star be nice to others 😉

Nursing homes, healthcare, and housing and land should NOT be 'for-profit' institutions at all. It's time for a change.

Having had family members and have it’s been going on for a very long time, where has the experts been, seen great nurses, cna, going the extra mile, others there just for a paycheck. True not enough staff to handle patients. It’s a veryhard job.

and training health care workers is a joke. when i started it was 3.25 cents an hour for a 24/7 job only making a thousand a month.

.

brandondarby all for $3000/month. and bedbugs. scabies. etc.

brandondarby It is a tough job and because of the low pay, you will get the lowest common denominator. We owe our moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas better care.

If the feds hired more agents to enforce their nursing home guidelines, there'd be less $$ available for important things like tax cuts for corporations & rich people, building a border wall....

Even on the best of days it’s been this way for decades now, FloridaElderly often get neglected, bc they warehoused & forgotten nursinghomes ALF’s Floridacoronavirus

We glorify youth and shut on our elderly.

brandondarby Ya ya blame and point fingers. We can all see you are going to start pushing a new, righteous sounding UN program soon. As the UN is dying a rightful death, they will attempt to leech money out of the public any way possible, like with fear.

brandondarby Regulations and lawsuits makes it very difficult to do the difficult and valuable work

The pay is terrible. Until wages show importance & difficulty of work they will always be understaffed. Living wages needed. Where's money go paid to these facilities? For-profit business? Stakeholders get paid, why not caregivers? Making profit off others grief is wrong

Shame when it takes a pandemic to expose the wealthiest country in the world’s inequality

The turnover in SNF employees is incredibly high. CNA’s have a very tough job and receive very little compensation and respect. It’s worse than this article implies.

It has to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. They deserve much higher pay and benefits. These are very special people.

Most countries face the same situation due to both political and unionization. The healthcare industry needs a overhaul. JustinTrudeau PattyHajdu cafreeland GovCanHealth fordnation ONgov CDCgov Mike_Pence realDonaldTrump Reuters business AFP CNBC CBC BBC CNN WHO

TRUE

Hourly minimum wage

The Medicare-for-all guy is still running. Maybe losing a few thousand meemaws and Grampies will motivate a few more people to support him in the coming months.

This has been an issue for a long long time. It has taken a pandemic to bring it to light. That’s very sad.

Trump and lobbyists are busy trying to reduce staffing levels further and patients are the ones hardest hit. This pandemic lays bare all the ways lean staffing affects public health.

Welcome to 1989 dummies. It's been this way forever.

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