New approach to pets
City program seeks to help residents keep their dogs out of the pound
A 3-foot-tall statue of St. Anthony, the patron saint of animals, seemed to stand watch over the four dogs below as a group of strangers approached their Flores Street home.
Three of the dogs started running around excitedly behind the chain-link fence that separated the backyard from the front of the house. The fourth, a black and brown rottweiler who was tethered to the fence in the front yard greeted the visitors with a tail wag.
“Look at this beautiful girl,” Kate Powell cooed to the rottweiler as she clipped a purple collar onto the dog’s neck.
Powell is the manager of the Community Animal Support and Assistance, or CASA, program, a new initiative of Animal Care Services that aims to reduce recidivism for noncompliant citations and to keep animals out of the shelter by providing resources to pet owners with a case-management approach.
Nearly 40 percent of violations issued by ACS are for owners struggling to achieve compliance for their pets. CASA’S goal is to help pet parents who love their dogs and want to keep them, but who may be unintentionally neglectful for reasons outside their control or due to a lack of education about pet-related city ordinances.
Powell and her team of four offer support to pet owners who need resources and education to properly care for their pets. The program’s assistance includes delivering dog food, building compliant dog houses, providing medical care and equipment, and more. They also educate owners about city ordinances they must comply with to avoid citations.
when forced to choose a new nursing home for their loved one.”
Costly short-term fix
Carillon is the most decorated nursing home in Lubbock — a critical piece in the city’s claim as a medical hub, which draws patients from all over the region. But for all of Carillon’s accolades, it has not been able to attract enough staff.
“It’s the worst that I have seen it as far as staffing goes,” said Pamela Roddy, executive director at Carillon. “It’s amazing to me that we can stay afloat, but we have people picking up extra shifts.”
Compared with 2019, there is an 18 percent decrease in registered nurses employed in Texas nursing facilities, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nursing shortage has forced some facilities to deny patients from hospital discharges, Warren said, which causes a ripple effect.
“That puts pressure on the hospitals, and it adds stress to the family trying to figure out where to take their loved one,” said Warren, president of the health care association.
Faced with shortages, facilities often hire temporary travel nurses through agencies, paying at least 50 percent more per hour than their full-time staff.
The use of traveling nurses can be fraught for staff morale. The pay discrepancy caused tension among the staff at Carillon. Some questioned why money could be spent on agency nurses who get paid $45 an hour or more, but not on raises for regular employees.
“I promise them it’s because agencies are a shortterm deal, it’s not forever,” Lozoya explained. “But if we use them, we can open more space. It’s like you put a Band-aid here, but you still have a bleed there.”
Meyer, vice president of advocacy at Leadingage Texas, said the majority of its members have had to deal with increased costs amid the shortage.
Oftentimes, agency nurses are drawn from long-term care, enticed by promises of travel, higher pay and shorter weeks — a seductive way of living that most nursing homes can’t compete with.
Glamour and money
“They cost more for the nursing facilities, sometimes two or three times more than what they would pay a full-time nurse,” Meyer said. “On top of that, it impacts resident care because nurses are coming in and out, but this is their home.”
What concerns Tara Strawn, the nursing program director at South Plains College in Levelland, is that there are few new nurses coming up who might someday ease the strain. She sees nurses build their careers from the ground up, and she said they’re not going to nursing homes for a simple reason: They want what they see on TV.
While nursing homes may not be considered glamorous enough for a young student’s “Grey’s Anatomy”-esque fantasies, working in the emergency rooms or the intensive care unit could live up to expectations.
“Those areas don’t have as big of a deficit because that’s where they all want to work,” Strawn said.
She would like to see the state develop a path for student loan forgiveness that encourages nursing students, which could help the dire situation. Four other states — Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Oregon — offer state-funded forgiveness for medical students.
“We need to be investing in our young people so they’ll want to become nurses and because they have a heart for it,” Strawn said.
But part of what’s keeping students away from the profession is what’s pulling nurses away from facilities now — money. About 62 percent of Texas nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their services, but facilities don’t get enough from Medicaid to stay afloat for long.
“Texas is in a difficult position because historically, we’ve had really low Medicaid reimbursement rates,” said Meyer, with Leadingage Texas. “The financial constraints are compounded, so you can’t really have a conversation about fixing the staffing shortages without talking about reimbursement.”
Meyer said many nursing facilities in rural Texas can’t afford to compete with more metropolitan areas that pay more. Until they can get help balancing the books, the shortage will continue.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle for us,” Meyer said. “It’s going to be difficult to attract nurses specifically because there are so many options, and those options, nine times out of 10, will offer higher pay than nursing facilities.”
Disclosure: Leadingage Texas and Texas Health Care Association have been financial supporters of the Texas Tribune. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.
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