It’s no secret that we are seeing a labor shortage all across the United States. Regardless of the reasoning why, you don’t have to go too far down the street to see “Help Wanted” signs. The pizza place four buildings down from me can’t seem to keep staff on hand. Two factories within a mile of me are desperately in need of help. They’ve even boosted starting pay to attract employees.
It’s been like this for months. It doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.
The same is true within the senior care business. There is a severe labor shortage. Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, in-home care services, they are all looking for people to help out. The difference between senior care and many other businesses is that this was the situation for years prior to the pandemic. It’s been very difficult for many care services to find qualified help as the senior citizen population expands. And now that labor shortages are even more prevalent, the industry’s problems have been compounded.
Staffing shortages continue to be an issue across the country, but it’s certainly not the only problem that the senior care business is facing. Another big issue that we are starting to see in the post-COVID world is a lack of trust in the care industry as a whole. Nursing homes across the world made mistakes in the early days of the pandemic. State and local governments made bad decisions, like what we saw happen in the state of New York. The end result was that thousands of senior citizens were exposed to the disease and needlessly lost their lives. The mental health toll for those that weren’t exposed to the virus was pretty terrible, too.
Some agencies have relied on temp workers to fill in for the care shortage. This presents a different kind of problem. Temp workers can be very good–but there’s no guarantee that this will be the case. We place trust in these people; it’s important that they have a clean background, thorough training, and be compensated fairly for their work.
You can take charge of your family’s care right now. The more knowledgeable that you are as an individual about what the care industry has to offer, what your choices are, and how these options might help (or hurt) your family, the better off your loved ones will be. The sooner you start researching care options, the less harmful these projected problems will likely be for the people that you care about. Many insurance policies will even pay family members to pursue training as a caregiver so that a potential care staff shortage won’t be an issue. You can provide a professional level of care to the people you love if you so desire. Whatever route you choose, know that you have options.
If you’re unsure of where to start, let us know. We offer free consultations designed to help answer this precise dilemma. One of our professionals would love to sit down with you and help get you pointed in the right direction.
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