“Direct-care staff members are the cornerstone of quality. There should be two types of nursing homes: the excellent and the nonexistent. Staffing makes the difference,” says Larry Minnix in a letter to the editor of the New York Times.
The letter comments on an article about a recent Government Accountability Office report (pdf) on the need to reform the nursing home survey and certification system. The report, Minnix points out, ignores the critical fact that the current system “does little to examine the most important indicator of quality: staffing.”
Minnix, who is president and chief executive of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, says “We cannot fine our way to quality improvement, but we can achieve the quality people deserve by rewarding nursing homes that recruit, retain and train talented people.”
Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org
How very true. We are more than that. Please continue to support us in anyway you can.
Our family has been involved in the Family Advocates, a group of parents/family members whose children/adult family members receive residential services from Heritage Christian Services, a non-profit agency serving over 1400 children/adults with developmental challenges in Rochester and western New York. Our main advocacy issue has been the recruitment and retention of direct care workers and how little they are compensated for the remarkable services they provide daily for our residents. The effects of little remuneration, and little reward on recruiting and retaining direct care professionals is inestimable on their sense of self-value when in comparison people who work in fast food restaurants are paid considerably more for jobs that require so much less responsibility.
The training our new staff members get is superior, and the recognition they receive from Heritage for the excellent jobs they do is rewarding. But at the end of the day, they have to make a decent living, many of whom have families to support. Many choose to move on to other opportunities because no matter how high in the organization one can rise, the financial aspect is still poor in comparison to other positions they are capable of attaining. We go to our state capitol every legislative day each year to advocate for the appropriate funding of our direct care professionals and the situation has improved somewhat. But there is still much work to be done.
I see such a carry-over to the nursing home situation with those direct care workers. My mother is in one of the best skilled nursing facilities in Rochester, and yet I see those aides in that situation looking burned out, disrespected, and ready to leave for “greener pastures.” The turnover rate is unbelievable…my mother comments on how frequently she sees new faces, and yet most of these aides say that this is the best nursing home to find work in.