By Mike De Felice
For the Review
Grace Hofer, who resides at Washington Veterans Home in Retsil near Port Orchard, considers the state-run facility to be “home.”
But for the 78-year-old former Army cook and seven-year resident, the facility recently has felt less homey because caregivers’ ability to tend to basic patient hygiene and other needs has taken a back seat due to staff shortages caused by COVID-19.
Hofer, who served three years in North Carolina and at Fort Lewis, said she recently has had to endure waits of up to an hour for staff to respond to calls for bathroom help. She also had to hang on for nine days before a staff member could break free and help her take a shower.
Like so many of the 190 residents at the veterans’ home, the assistance they receive from staff is essential to living a comfortable life. And that’s especially true for Hofer, who has been in a wheelchair for seven years following a car accident.
Since the start of the pandemic, the veterans’ home, like many other operations, has wrestled with staffing issues. But unlike a restaurant where having fewer employees might lead to reduced hours or increased wait times for service, when a nursing home has insufficient staffing, the impact on residents is immediate and personal.
“We have been so terribly short on staff, it is getting critical,” Hofer said. “There is one person to take care of 20 people, all needing special care and special help, and it just can’t be done by one person.”
Invariably, though, reduced staffing results in service responsibilities that are spread too thin among remaining caregivers.
Bathing issues
Hofer outlined a number of instances when the workforce shortage impacted her care. “And it’s not only my care but others too,” she said. “In January, there were two times in one day [where] I had to wait over an hour to go the bathroom.”
In pre-pandemic times when staffing levels were normal, she said the response time was five to 10 minutes. “This is scary because you have accidents,” she said. “We are all seniors, you know. We don’t have control anymore.”
Having fewer caregivers has also disrupted her usual Wednesday and Sunday bathing schedule. On consecutive shower days, she was told she would not be able to bathe because there was not enough staff to assist her, forcing her to delay her basic hygiene needs for a week.
Meal service has also been impacted, forcing residents to wait longer to eat, she said. “This morning they were an hour late [with breakfast].”
Hofer said it’s difficult for the home’s administration to attract more employees, even in the best of times. “Nobody wants to take care of old people that are sick and cranky. It takes a dedicated sort of person to want to care for people,” she said.
Kudos to staff
Despite the hardships, Hofer holds the regular employees at the veterans’ home in high regard.
“The few regular staff we have left are doing their best. They want to serve and be pleasant under all the pressure. They do the best they can to take care of each one of us the way we want to be cared for. [Residents] have their idiosyncrasies and [the staff] puts up with them.”
The Army veteran isn’t as fond of temporary hires. “They don’t want to work if they don’t have to,” she said of the “temps.” “Sometimes they get put on the schedule and don’t show up,” Hofer said.
The complaints Hofer made about the reduced standard of care are regularly voiced at the resident council meetings. Hofer has been a member of the council on and off for years.
Administration’s response
The main points Hofer raised were shared with officials with the state Department of Veteran Affairs.
“The State Veteran Homes have struggled with staffing since the pandemic begin in March of 2020,” the department states. The department has experienced an “unusually high number of vacant positions” and unplanned call-outs due to COVID-19 infections in staff or family, the correspondence adds.
To combat the impacts of fewer employees and ensure the best possible care, the Retsil facility has reduced the number of residents from a full capacity of 240 to 190 residents, said Jennifer Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the department.
The facility is taking steps to increase staffing levels by changing employee shifts and staffing patterns, and closing units, she added. Regarding reduced bathing schedules, Montgomery said personal hygiene needs may be met using other methods, such as bed baths.
Meanwhile, the veterans’ affairs department is “aggressively recruiting” for staff, Montgomery said. To attract job applicants, certified nursing assistant candidates will soon be offered incentive pay. Steps are being taken to recruit more registered nursing assistants.
The Washington Veterans Home serves veterans and their family members. The facility provides nursing and medical care, and pharmacy services. It is one of four long-term care facilities in the state operated by Veterans Affairs.
