Nursing home industry representatives held a press conference last week to bemoan a shortage of nursing staff in Florida’s nursing homes (Metro, Aug. 31). They argue that they can’t hire enough nursing aides to meet new staffing requirements recently passed during the 2001 legislative session.

How can this be?

The recently passed law was widely hailed as a victory for the nursing home industry. The Florida Health Care Association, the industry’s trade group, even went so far in its celebration as to play the theme song from the movie “Rocky” at its recent convention. And now, when the time has come to hold up their end of the bargain, they say they are facing “a real crisis.”

If there is a crisis, it is a crisis of their own making.

Let us recall that it was these same representatives who had repeatedly made two key points about why homes were so consistently short of staff. The first was that hiring staff is difficult in a “full-employment” economy, and the second concerned a lack of state funding.

Recent economic indicators show that unemployment is up, the economy is slowing and plenty of people are looking for work. As for the second point, the Florida Legislature handed out an additional $76 million so that homes could hire more staff. This state money comes in addition to $31 billion increase in federal funds to be given out over the next five years.

Is the problem, as industry representatives claim, a shortage of available nursing aides?

Not according to a report released last year. A task force found that with more than 10,000 new certified nursing assistants entering the Florida job market each year, there are more than enough available applicants. Poor work conditions, low pay and a virtual absence of benefits resulted in a near 100 percent annual turnover of staff and a reluctance of even new CNAs to work in a nursing home.

As the stocks of the big nursing home chains are now steadily on the rise and with multimillion-dollar bonuses becoming common in this arena, the for-profit nursing home operators are simply out of excuses. If a nursing home chain such as Vencor (now Kindred) can pay a multimillion-dollar bonus to its CEO and if HIS can offer $55 million severance package to its president, then certainly front-line caregivers can be paid a living wage.

The answer to the staffing crisis is simple: Increase the pay of nursing staff, offer a real benefits package and treat staff with respect. Then—and only then—will you find that qualified people will be willing to work once again in a nursing home.

Tampa attorney Jim Wilkes is the founding partner of Wilkes & McHugh, P.A.

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