Kansas nursing home officials push for staffing aid — and calling out National Guard
Kansas nursing home executives, struggling to staff their facilities in the COVID-19 pandemic, are asking lawmakers for help — including calling out the National Guard.
Haely Ordoyne, a member of the Kansas Adult Care Executives Board of Directors, asked senators Wednesday to deploy the Kansas National Guard to nursing homes with severe staff shortages. She said even though many guard members are not trained nurses, they can help with other “housekeeping” tasks so that nurses can focus on medical care.
“There’s plenty of additional supports that if you give us a willing and able body, we can train them,” she said.
Other states have sent the guard to nursing homes. In Indiana, more than 1,300 guardsmen and women have served since early November to help clean and to screen staff and visitors, the IndyStar reported. In California, the guard was sent to two of San Diego County’s hardest-hit nursing facilities.
Ordoyne also asked for more access to state labs to get test results back quicker. Other executives expressed the need for more opportunities to train certified nursing assistants and extend limitations on inflated prices for personal protective equipment and other essential supplies.
Nursing homes in Kansas have long struggled financially, with many unable to pay competitive wages, or even basic utility bills. The pandemic has exacerbated those difficulties, as the cost of personal protective equipment increases and staff shortages grow.
Ordoyne said nurses are leaving to work at hospitals and clinics. Certified nursing assistants are taking jobs with higher pay and lower stakes, at places like retail or grocery stores.
“Right now my staff are soldiers everyday,” she said. “We’re fighting an invisible enemy and by the time you see it coming it’s already hit you and it’s too late.”
Nursing home operators also expressed continuing concern about lawsuits related to the coronavirus particularly in rural communities.
In June, civil immunity was granted to hospitals and some other healthcare facilities, but that liability protection did not fully extend to nursing homes. Michael Boulton, executive director of Lexington Park nursing home in Topeka, described the June decision to exclude nursing homes as “insane,” “criminal,” and “a punch In the gut.”
He and other administrators from Kansas nursing homes argued for full immunity. The bill is currently in the Kansas House, to be heard by the judiciary committee.
Kansas nursing homes have been a hotbed for coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Boulton said his facility has been able to avoid large outbreaks thanks to regular testing of staff as they arrive at work. Other Kansas facilities have not been so lucky.
“I can’t comprehend that — if I’m not a healthcare provider, I’d like to know what the heck we are,” Boulton said. “This is insanity.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 3:41 PM.