With pressure from the media, the public and government agencies, the skilled nursing industry will be losing some of its best people. Not the time for that to happen.
A good friend of mine sent me an article about a New York nursing home administrator who is angry at the fact that nursing homes have been villainized and scapegoated, especially in New York. Where were the car parades in front of nursing homes, like they were in front of hospitals, thanking them for caring for the frail elderly, he asks, and risking their lives as well? Nonexistent, sadly.
He couldn’t take it anymore, and moved to Michigan, where he is happily working as an administrator after 20 years in New York. He has been working in skilled nursing since he was 17, it’s in his DNA. Family members would blame him and his facility for not letting them in to visit their parents, not understanding that staff were pleading with the state to loosen up those restrictions. The restrictions were killing the residents.
He said the best of the nursing home leaders in the state were leaving because of the adversarial relationship with state regulators and others, which is known for its tough environment.
This has to change, but not just in New York. Thousands of people are leaving their jobs just as we are on the cusp of needing even more employees, probably hundreds of thousands more in the coming decade. When will the media, the public and government stop dumping on skilled nursing? Are you listening Elizabeth Warren? Try doing a day shift sometime and see what really goes on. Then come and have a chat with me. My door is open.
