Lack of progress is another reason why many CNAs quit. Wolapaye followed the ladder: Dining Assistant led to Certified Nursing Assistant. After that, he got a MedTech certificate. He then started school to become an associate nurse in Liberia until his brother, who was caring for his children, died. Wolapaye took a double shift to pay for their education. His goal remains. Registered nurses average $ 39 per hour in the United States. Even if there were more opportunities for promotion than many elderly care workers, the journey to get there was long and difficult.
David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, said helping establish a career ladder is one way federal and state governments can help providers retain workers. I am. Providers like Goodwin Living can do this, in part, at their own expense. But for others, such as small providers that make up the majority of the supported living community, the government is a roadmap for partnering with community colleges that offer training programs, incentives, or forgiveness for workers. He says he needs to create. “If cost is a big barrier here, it’s for many individuals in this workforce, but we need to invest completely in manufacturing. [advancement training programs] freedom. “
The most difficult position for a provider to fill is often a registered nurse. When a worker is promoted from a nursing assistant to a nurse, it is a “win-win,” Grabowski says. Because providers play the role they need and workers gain economic liquidity. “Currently, staff shortages are absorbing all the oxygen in the long-term care rooms,” he said, citing “despair” among providers competing with each other for staff, with some providing ownership. And a direct care worker signing a bonus on a new one. “Allowing someone to climb the career ladder,” he says, is a much better and more sustainable path.
Without policy changes, the United States will become a country where its older people do not live or die with dignity, Wool Handler says. The quality of care is reduced: fewer baths, fewer people preparing meals and helping the toilet. She points out that a depressing workforce due to lack of staff leads to the transmission of more illnesses. More elderly people will be bedridden. As people try to move around, they are discovered a few days later and there are more falls.
As Wolapaye continued to work in the hot zone, General’s symptoms worsened and he was sent to the hospital. Shortly thereafter, Wollapei called the general’s wife to check her. She was up late, surfing TV channels and they were fostering friendships. He raised her head in bed to make her comfortable. The next day he knocked on her door and she tried to turn her head towards him. He reported to her nurse something was wrong. The next night she was sent to the hospital.
As the virus worsened, some Goodwin Living staff declined to work, incoming staff tended to avoid Wolapaye, and others tended to go to the hot zone. They were trying to keep their families healthy and lively. But Wollapai was also trying to keep his family alive — it included the general and his wife. “They were like my father and mother,” he told me.
