Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • The 19th Explains: Why the nursing shortage isn’t going away anytime soon

        Mariel Padilla · September 23
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A patient in her room at a Colorado nursing home.
A patient is seen in her room at a Colorado nursing home in March 2022. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/Getty Images)

Caregiving

Nursing home workers react to Biden’s ‘game-changing’ call for reform

Nursing home staffers — the majority of whom are women, disproportionately women of color — have kept centers running through unprecedented times. Now help could be coming.

Sara Luterman

Caregiving reporter

Sara Luterman, The 19th

Published

2022-03-11 11:54
11:54
March 11, 2022
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

President Joe Biden last week rolled out an ambitious set of proposals to improve the quality of America’s nursing homes. The plan, released in advance of the State of the Union address, promises to increase federal staff ratio requirements, tighten infection control and take other measures to improve conditions in the places that have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The proposed reforms would affect not just the residents of nursing homes, but also the staff workers — the majority of whom are women, disproportionately women of color — who have kept these centers running through unprecedented times. 

April Verrett is president of Service Employees International Union Local 2015, the largest long-term care union in the country, representing both nursing home and home care workers. She praised the plan as a “game-changing proposal” but also highlighted how much work it has taken to push for change. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“It’s a direct response to the relentless organizing by these workers, predominantly Black women, who have been on the front lines,” Verrett said. “These workers have been calling for dignity for themselves and their residents,” she said. 

The proposals are wide ranging and vary in specificity. For example, a proposal to “explore ways to accelerate” phasing out shared rooms lacks a proposed pathway. Many goals would require an act of Congress, such as the proposal to increase spending on nursing home inspection and enforcement. However, some could be implemented by the Biden administration unilaterally through rule making and regulatory changes. 

In particular, Verrett praised the Biden administration’s move to establish a federal nursing home staffing minimum. Currently, there is no federal minimum for the ratio of nursing home staffers per resident. Individual states have their own standards, but those vary considerably. More staff per resident — and, by extension, more time spent with individual people — has long been linked to better outcomes for nursing home residents.

  • More from The 19th
    Firefighters in full gear observe a moment of silence.
  • Exclusive: A new bill could help frontline workers access mental health care through their insurance
  • Anti-‘woke’ bills could affect LGBTQ+ sensitivity training for eldercare, advocates worry
  • Political pressure led to shutdown of Texas’ largest gender-affirming care program

Improved staff ratios are one of the biggest needs workers face. “I have not had a conversation with nursing home workers that did not involve staffing. There’s never enough people to get the job done,” Verrett said. 

Adelina Ramos, a certified nursing assistant working in Rhode Island, has worked in nursing homes for the past 12 years and, through her union, has done advocacy around staffing levels for the past five. While things have always been difficult for workers like her, the pandemic made things much worse, she said. 

“A lot of [certified nursing assistants] left the field completely,” Ramos said. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have lost over 250,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic. While staffing shortages have always been a problem in long-term care, experts have described the current staffing situation at nursing homes as a “crisis on steroids.” 

Over the course of the pandemic, she lost many of her residents and one coworker to COVID-19. When her residents died, she and other staff members were responsible for putting them into body bags. The funeral home employees refused because they did not have adequate personal protective equipment. 

Ramos works in memory care, and her patients tend to be medically fragile and need a high degree of support. They may not be able to eat, drink or get out of bed on their own.

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

The fewer staff members on per shift, the less time she has to deliver critical, necessary care. And the less time she has to connect with residents as people. 

“You don’t even get time to talk to [residents],” Ramos said. “They want someone to talk to. Some of them don’t have family that comes and visits them. And a lot of times [because of understaffing] we don’t have time for them,” she said. 

Ramos thought about quitting, too.  

“Obviously, it came across my mind. But I thought about how because of pandemic restrictions, a lot of [residents] couldn’t be with their families,” she said. “Family couldn’t come sit with them and talk with them. We’re the only family they have right now. They need us.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

Three mothers hold their children.

Business & Economy

Moving in with other adults has become a lifeline for single moms hit ‘tenfold’ by the pandemic

Single mothers, who have lost jobs at a higher rate than married parents, are turning to cohabitation as a way to get through the pandemic, get child care support and weather rising rents. Many are moving in with family, friends or other single moms.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram