TN Nursing Homes Report Largest Employment Drop in History
Tennessee nursing homes are reporting the largest employment drop in history. In an article by Kathryn Rickmeyer posted in the Williamson Home Page, Rickmeyer noted that Tennessee nursing homes have a long-term care problem: 18 months after the COVID-19 crisis began, their staffs are shrinking faster than ever, according to statistics from the Tennessee Department of Labor.
More than half of all Tennessee nursing homes were already operating with a staff shortage of 20 percent or greater, according to Tennessee Health Care Association (THCA). Then, on Aug. 18, 2021, President Joe Biden said his administration will require nursing homes to vaccinate their staff against COVID-19 or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Many nursing home staff members prefer not to be vaccinated. According to the article, recently administrators of Morningside of Belmont, a nursing home in Nashville, gave employees a choice: Get vaccinated or find somewhere else to work. The entire cleaning staff and its sales director chose the latter and walked out, leaving the residency without a single cleaning crew member and administrators scrambling to hire new staff. The building’s handyman has been charged with cleaning the rooms during the interim, according to one of the residents.
Although vaccination may be one reason for the staff shortage, another reason may be the increasing number of people who are choosing aging-in-place at their home, versus moving to nursing homes or assisted living. By modifying their home to accommodate their disability and hiring some in-home nursing help, people can avoid the expense, hassle, and realities of moving to assisted living. Plus they get to live where they want to, near family, friends and their old neighborhood. Nursing home staff may well prefer to work for these clients versus the working conditions they find in nursing homes.
Bill Schaffner, a veteran professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said he fears walkouts in nursing homes could foreshadow what’s to come as vaccines become FDA approved. Enforcement of vaccines on employees may become easier if the vaccine is approved by the FDA.
There are likely to be similar situations in most states. Nursing homes and assistive living facilities that are short of staff will likely have reduced services and poor quality control, making the living conditions in these facilities even more tenable.
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