In the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly Reddington found herself and her staff on the frontlines enduring high levels of emotional and physical stress caring for their patients in a long-term care facility, during a novel and unprecedented period of time.
“This was in the beginning of COVID when we were very unsure too because we were not sure how protected we were…So we were going in with everything on, you know the gown, the shield, the N95, gloves, and we had to do [a PCR test], which initiates this cough. Of course, we did what we had to do but knowing that this virus was really so unknown, we were in there and hoping that what we were wearing was protecting us, because nobody wanted COVID, nobody wanted to spread COVID. Nobody wanted to bring COVID to their family,” Reddington recalls.
Reddington is a Registered Nurse and the Assistant Director of Nursing at Hamilton Grove Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Hamilton, NJ, which was hit hard with staffing issues due to the uncertainty of the situation.
She says, “When COVID came, a lot of our staff left because they either decided they were going to leave the field or they had family they were worried about their safety.”
Of those who stayed, redding says, “We managed by, well, I think we kind of all congregated together. We were closed as a building. We had no visitors coming or going for fifteen months, so we were each other’s support.”
According to the American Healthcare Association (AHCA), currently “77 percent of nursing homes [face] moderate to high levels of staffing shortages.” Moreover, 95 percent of nursing homes are experiencing difficulty hiring new staff.
Steve Lampert, the Licensed Nursing Home Administrator at Hamilton Grove, credits the shortage in part to burnout saying, “I think people just left because they were burnt out from working so hard. Probably seeing a lot of what they worked hard for falling apart, so they just left the scene.”
In 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed bills S2712 and S2785, which “requires minimum direct care staff-to-resident ratios in New Jersey long-term care facilities,” and “requires long-term care facilities to institute policies that prevent social isolation of residents, addressing issues experienced by LTC residents and their families as a result of prohibitions and limitations on visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This response, aimed at improving conditions for patients, has put nurses and nursing administrations in a tough position. Finding new recruits is more difficult than it was in the pre-pandemic world and the demand for additional aid has increased the stress put on existing staff.
Lampert says nursing facilities like Hamilton Grove typically work with outside companies to fill positions, but by itself, that strategy doesn’t fill the gap. He says “We got more creative with advertising in general, we had to bring up our [pay] rates. We had to because the overall cost of living went up tremendously.”
Like Hamilton Grove, over 85 percent of nursing homes are offering additional compensation to draw in new talent, according to the AHCA.
Those who are thinking of joining the nursing profession are forced to consider the balance of risk to reward.
Anna Krzos, a third-year nursing student at Mercer says, “To get a job wouldn’t be that hard because we have shortages everywhere,” but adds that she is worried about “finding a spot that isn’t too short-staffed because then I would burn out.”
Elizabeth Mizerek, the Director of Nursing Education and Interim Dean of Health Professions at MCCC, says programs like our are struggling to fill the need.
She says, “Almost every nursing school is turning away qualified applicants. We just don’t have the capacity. We don’t have enough faculty. Just as there is a nursing shortage there is a nursing faculty shortage. We need to expand the capacity of nursing education programs.”
Mizerek says some help may come from Senate bill A4325, which allocated $26.7 million to nursing initiatives but that the short-term issues remain.
For those nurses who didn’t leave the field, COVID left a lasting psychological impact.
Reddington says, “There was a lot of fear.” One indelible memory she has was of a patient who was at the end of life whose family had to stand behind a window to see them.
“That’s how they saw their loved one,” she says. “There was no hugging, no touching, no talking. Yes, you could hear through the window, but you couldn’t really be there in that moment when you feel the love, you see the love. It’s human nature to want to hold someone and to be there with them and there was that separation. It was one of the most emotional times.”
NOTE: In an earlier version of this story the two people in the photograph were misidentified. The error has been fixed as of 1/7/24.
