The employees at The Gardens at Blue Ridge describe residents sitting in their own feces or urine because the nursing home is perpetually understaffed, and without enough supplies to properly care for those who need it.
Caregivers stood outside of The Gardens at Blue Ridge nursing home in Susquehanna Township on Sept. 2, heading into Labor Day weekend on a picket line instead of at work., as negotiations between the staff union and management broke down early Friday morning. And their primary concern, they said, was that the care being provided wasn’t enough for the residents.
Empson said that the conditions were “deplorable” for the residents she cared for, largely due to a lack of supplies and staffing shortages. She works night shifts, and is the sole person caring for 55 residents overnight. “We’re putting small briefs on people who can’t even fit small, but that’s all we have,” she said. “They’re getting blisters and sores. It’s not fair.”“We are never [fully] staffed,” Ndaya said. “Sometimes you’d rather pick up the shifts than be mandated. If you don’t pick up [double shifts], they’re going to mandate you anyway. So we just choose to work the 16 hours and go home, because after 16 hours they can’t make you work any more.
Staffing is difficult to maintain, employees said, because starting wages aren’t competitive. Why help care for the sick or infirm, they said, when you can work at a fast food restaurant and be paid more? “They want to use their money to buy other nursing homes,” Empson said. “Build their [own] revenue up. Instead of building the people up here, and making this a better nursing home, they want to buy other nursing homes [and run them] under the same conditions.”
Yarnell pointed out that nursing home care is often provided by women, particularly women of color, and immigrants, and that is part of why it is “forgotten work” that often goes under-appreciated by society.
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