New York must invest in better nursing home care

I have been a dietary worker at a large nursing home for 14 years, but I never realized how hard it is for patient care workers to wash, feed, clothe and tend to our most vulnerable seniors — even before the COVID-19 pandemic — until my mother suffered a massive stroke and could no longer care for herself.

My mother was 63 when she got sick. She spent two years in hospitals and rehab facilities before she could return to her home in Highland, Ulster County. She could not sit up on her own or take care of herself in any way. My father, sister, brother and I lovingly cared for her around the clock for nine years until she passed away two days after Christmas last year.

It took at least an hour to feed her three times a day, 40 minutes to give her a shower and countless hours to dress her, take her to the bathroom, brush her hair and spend time with her. My mother was a beautiful, independent person; that illness robbed her of her dignity and made her entirely dependent on others.

Providing my mother with the care she needed took a whole working day – and then some. But she was just one patient. Certified nursing assistants, physician’s assistants, LPNS and other direct-care workers in hundreds of nursing homes across the state have to tend to six or seven residents every shift, exposing themselves to the deadly virus.

There aren’t enough hours in

the day, nor enough workers to provide enough patient care hours. The pressure is enormous, and while there is great satisfaction in helping these vulnerable seniors, the pay is low and the working conditions are substandard, for the most part.

That is why my union, 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, recently launched our Invest in Quality Care campaign calling on the governor and the Legislature to enact comprehensive, top-to-bottom nursing home reform across New York.

The campaign is absolutely necessary now that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the chronic weaknesses in the nursing home industry — including inadequate infection control, low wages, high turnover, reliance on per diem workers, profiteering and a lack of oversight.

More than 65,000 members of 1199SEIU work in 343 nursing homes across the state. New York is one of only ten states that has no minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes. We’ve also urged that nursing homes spend at least 70 percent of their revenue on direct patient care, language that was ultimately included in this year’s state budget.

When the pandemic first hit a year ago, my facility, the Hebrew Home for the Aged in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, lacked enough personal protective equipment like N95 masks, gloves, surgical gowns and face shields.

All hell broke loose. People were nervous and no one knew what to expect. It started getting really bad in March and early April. Over 100 of our residents died; you could see the bodies being rolled away to the morgue.

We didn’t have enough people who take direct care of residents — nurses, certified nursing assistants and others — even before the pandemic. It’s gotten dramatically worse since. Without enough staff, residents can’t get enough direct care they so desperately need. Each patient should get about four hours of direct care each day; they were lucky to get 40 minutes.

Since I was a cook in the kitchen, I did not participate in direct patient care at the nursing home, but I could see — and feel — the pressure those workers were under.

Although the COVID-19 crisis seems to be easing, it is still absolutely necessary that these patients get the direct care they need each day. Their lives quite literally depend on it.