Staffing Problems Persist at Long-Term Care Facilities

Representatives from a group home and a respite care site testified before the Senate Human Services Reform Committee Thursday, January 13, about the dire staffing circumstances facing long-term care facilities in Minnesota.

Tracy Murphy, an executive with a community-based disability services provider, said, “We’re drowning,” as she described difficulties in achieving adequate staffing, dealing with COVID restrictions and reaching compliance with federal vaccine mandates. “This isn’t safe. It’s not sustainable. It’s increasingly risky,” she said.

Christina Kurschner, a supervisor with a Twin Cities respite care provider, spoke of the long hours she and other staff have to work, the challenge of ensuring high standards of care when workers can easily earn similar or higher pay elsewhere and the ethical questions prompted by continuing to work under such challenges. “The stress of this last year-and-a-half has left its toll. Our company is really struggling,” she said.

Select the January 13, 2022 meeting of the Human Services Reform Committee to view the entire hearing.