SAN ANTONIO – Increased hospitalizations and positive tests are showing that COVID-19 is not yet behind us, and once again, concerns are surrounding long-term care facilities.
One local assisted living facility is already dealing with an outbreak.
Katherine Nicholas, the assistant director of nursing at Morningside Ministries at the Meadows, a senior living community, is concerned as COVID-19 cases rise in our area.
“We’re taking extra precautions. We went back to N95 masks,” Nicholas said.
Masks are still required at the facility, and there are staff and visitor health screenings.
Dion Munoz, the assistant executive director, said they had not had any recent outbreaks, and most of their staff members and residents are vaccinated.
“We’re about close to 90% vaccination rates for staff and about 98% on residents,” Munoz said.
Munoz said testing has also increased.
“Currently, with our positivity rates increasing, we have to increase the frequency of testing of those unvaccinated persons, so we’re above 10%. So per HHS and CDC, we have to test twice a week,” Munoz said.
While long-term care facilities focus on safety protocols and ensuring everyone is vaccinated, there is another concern with staff shortages.
A survey from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living showed more than half of the nursing home and assisted living providers lost key frontline staff last year because they left.
The President and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association released this statement:
”Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, the long-term health care profession was facing staff shortages across the state due to a shortage of direct care staff supply and severe chronic underfunding in Medicaid reimbursement for Texas nursing facilities to be able to compete in very competitive labor markets. These pre-pandemic concerns are now combined with further increasing labor costs, additional costs for PPE, regular testing, ongoing infection control and prevention and lower occupancy resulting in reduced revenues. Moreover, long-term care staff members have opportunities in other health care professions or employment sectors all together that offer significantly higher wages, which can further deter them from long-term care work.
“The staff that have been working in these facilities throughout this pandemic continue to demonstrate they are heroes. They have sacrificed their and their families’ health and well-being since March 2020, working overtime and days off to take care of our most vulnerable Texans. However, we still need more of them. More staff will help to alleviate some of the burdens on existing nurses and long-term care staff and ensure that residents continue getting the care they require and deserve.
“Facilities need help from the state to help alleviate added costs due to COVID-19. Currently, our profession is working with lawmakers to encourage designating money from the American Rescue Plan federal funds to long-term care. That is a great place to start.
“New variants prove that COVID-19 is not yet behind us and that we must dedicate funding to the long-term care industry well into the future. While we have made great strides with vaccination rates of both staff and residents, the community must remain vigilant. It has been proven that there is a direct link between county positivity rate and community spread and positive cases in nursing homes.”