94 percent of nursing homes face staffing shortages

Latessa Morris - Life Care Center of Sparta executive director

 American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living recently issued a press release about a survey that describes the urgent need to invest in long-term care workforce.

“We are aware of the press release sent out by the American Health Care Association, and, with COVID, this has been a tough year for nursing facilities around the country,” said Latessa Morris, executive director at Life Care Center of Sparta. “We are thankful that here at Life Care Center of Sparta, our turnover rate is the lowest it has been in a long time. We are always looking for compassionate and dedicated people to join our team, but our low turnover rate is a testament to the caring of our community members and their heart to take good care of our seniors.”

According to the information obtained from the survey, researchers reportedly found the following.

• Ninety-four percent of nursing home providers said they have had a shortage of staff members in the last month. In assisted living communities, 81 percent said they had similar staffing shortages.
• More than half of nursing home and assisted living providers lost key members of their staff last year during the pandemic due to workers quitting, including among certified nursing assistants or direct caregivers and dietary staff.
• Close to 75 percent of nursing homes and nearly 60 percent of assisted living communities said their overall workforce situation has gotten worse since 2020.
• Eighty-one percent of nursing home providers and 75 percent of assisted living communities stated that higher reimbursement to offer better staff pay and benefits would help improve the facility’s ability to recruit and retain staff members.