STIFFED ON STAFF BACKUPS
Nursing-home snubs
Nursing homes desperately seeking relief from staffing shortages tied to New York’s new COVID-19 vaccine mandate are being told, “We do not have any staff to offer you or any other nursing homes” upon calling the hotline specifically set up to help plug vacancies, The Post has learned.
“Despite what the media says, currently we do not have any staff to offer you or any other nursing homes. I will log you in our system,” a state Department of Health staffer manning the agency’s “Surge and Flex Operations Center” hotline told one nursing home on Oct. 4 — just one week after the mandate’s effective date.
“Feel free to call with updates, but no need to call daily hoping this will be your lucky day,” the operator said.
Callers receive an “intake number” and assigned a case, which is then reviewed by the state to assess the severity of need, according to a source familiar with the hotline.
The stark reality contradicts Gov. Hochul’s public statements since the mandate took effect on Sept. 27, as well as an executive order she signed declaring that there’s a reserve of health-care employees ready to backfill positions following resignations or terminations.
The mandate requires all healthcare workers in health-care facilities to be vaccinated against the deadly virus unless they have an approved medical exemption — or else employers can fire them.
Another nursing-home industry source reached out on Sept. 29 to the hotline and was told “they do not have any staff.”
“They are aware that it was mentioned in the news regarding vaccine mandate staffing issues,” wrote the source, according to internal communications obtained by The Post.
But Hochul dug in during a Tuesday press conference when pressed about the state’s refusal to release data pertaining to worker shortages in nursing homes or hospitals, which are required to be reported to the DOH in daily surveys.
She argued health-care facilities should call the DOH’s “24/7 operations center” to request staff and may even have access to student nurses. In the worst-case scenario the National Guard could be deployed, although the state has not done so.
A DOH rep told The Post that since last Monday, the agency has received “nearly 50 calls” related to staffing requests. But the rep would not say whether or not any healthcare staffers were actually deployed.
The statewide vaccination rate of elder-care staffers with at least one shot is 97 percent, according to the DOH, up from 92 percent the day the mandate was announced.
Nursing homes could be on track to lose more staffers within the coming week tied to a pending federal court case, where a judge is anticipated to rule on or before Oct. 12 whether or not employers may deny requests for religious exemptions from getting the shot.
Hochul has said she is confident the mandate will be upheld.
There are 613 nursing homes in New York state and roughly 145,408 employees, according to the DOH.