Contracts give nurses raises in COVID fight
But that applies only to those not already working in Texas
“We were all kind of angry about it because we felt like we should be able to take those contracts as well.”
James Oakes, a pediatric nurse
As more children were diagnosed with COVID-19 this summer, James Oakes, a pediatric nurse, noticed his workload ramp up.
“The workload is pretty heavy,” he thought. “Why can’t I be compensated more for doing the same amount of work?”
That’s when he began to look into being a travel nurse, a job in which industry experts say nurses can make three to four times more than staff nurses. The average salary for a registered nurse in Texas is $76,800, according to Department of Labor data.
Crisis contracts, which are positions funded by the state using FEMA dollars, tend to be some of the highest paying, nurses say. However nurses such as Oakes, who already lived and worked in Texas, couldn’t take these specific contracts. Oakes and his peers noticed many job postings specified that Texas residents couldn’t apply.
“We all have the same sentiment,” said Oakes, 27, of north Houston. “We were all kind of angry about it because we felt like we should be able to take those contracts as well.”
When browsing postings, he noticed crisis contracts paid around $6,000 to $7,000 a week compared with local contracts, which paid about $3,000 to $4,000 a week.
Eventually, he found a local contract, not funded by federal dollars, which was still a significant pay bump. He’s only been doing contract work for four months, but his income for this year will be double what he made last year as a staff nurse.
Texas nurses have been excluded from contracts funded by
federal dollars so the local hospitals won’t lose staff. During the first COVID wave, no such standard was put in place and many nurses in the state left their current jobs to work down the street for higher pay, said Cindy Zolnierek, the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association.
“It kind of just shuffled nurses around, versus bringing additional nurses in,” Zolnierek said.
But targeting only out-of-state nurses isn’t a catch-all solution, Zolnierek said. Nothing is stopping Texas staff nurses from taking local contracts or going to other states like Alaska and Montana, which are in need of nurses.
“That’s kind of the problem with relying on travel nurses,” Zolnierek said. “If we had better foresight early on in the pandemic, we might have offered retention bonuses to nurses.”
Instead of offering incentives, many organizations cut back on staffing after the first COVID wave, Zolnierek said.
“That doesn’t send the right message to front-line staff,” Zolnierek said. “If you keep asking nurses to give and give, you can’t start making cuts. Organizations need to show constant support of their nurses, it can’t be come and go depending on how bad the pandemic is.”
The Texas Department of
State Health Services, which works with staffing agencies to provide out-of-state medical personnel for crisis contracts, said there is no definitive end date for how long these contracts will be available. Ultimately, it depends on the number of COVID hospitalizations.
In San Antonio, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients dipped below 500 last week for the first time since July 25. The city’s third surge peaked Aug. 23, when nearly 1,500 COVID-19 patients were in area hospitals.
“We have seen the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients start trending down over the last few weeks,” Lara Anton, DSHS spokesperson said in an email. “While the current number of patients remains high, we are watching that trend to determine when we should start decreasing the number of medical surge staff.”
This model isn’t sustainable, Zolnierek said. It was designed for natural disasters and other short-lived crises. As the demand for nurses continues, they are burning out. Although contract work may pay well, it can be a grueling schedule — often five or six 12- to 15-hour shifts a week.
Though it was meant to mitigate the shortage, it could be fueling it, too, Zolnierek said.
“Now nurses that have taken these contracts and they can make a bunch of money in a short period of time, they’re stepping away from the workforce for a while,” Zolnierek said.
Ivette Palomeque, 45, might soon be one of those nurses. She works in the ICU at a hospital in McAllen near the border, where she often finds herself working 15-hour days. The halls are lined with patients, and many days she has to take care of three or four patients — double the industry standard of two patients per ICU nurse.
“I find myself saying at least once a week, ‘This isn’t worth it. I can’t take it,’ ” Palomeque said. “It’s not just the physical toll that it’s taken on us, but the emotional and the mental toll. There are just not enough resources.”
She began doing contract work in January 2020 right before the pandemic took hold.
She took a contract in Florida while her divorce was being litigated in that state. She then took other contracts in New York and throughout Texas. Once the demand sent salaries skyrocketing, she began making triple what she did as a staff nurse at Memorial Hermann. Palomeque said she is still able to do crisis contracts in Texas since she was “activated” before the new mandate was put in place.
For Palomeque, her time as a travel nurse has completely changed her perspective. She said she doesn’t ever intend on returning to being a staff nurse, since it’s essentially the same job for less pay and as a travel nurse she has the ability to work when she wants and take breaks between contracts.
“Part of it is the pay,” Palomeque said, “but it’s also the freedom that comes with it.”