N’West Iowa senior centers need more staff – nwestiowa.com

REGIONAL—Keeping enough staff members on hand was a challenge at Prairie View Campus in Sanborn before COVID-19 hit in 2020.

Fast-forward to the present, and the facility’s administrator Wendy Nelson said the situation there is “just impossible.”

“COVID brought the opportunity for some people to stay home and financially make ends meet,” Nelson said. “It burnt people out of our industry — they wanted totally out of health care. And it also let a large group of people who were close to retirement be able to retire early.”

Prairie View Campus is divided into a nursing home, an assisted-living center and an independent-living center. The staffing roles include nursing, housekeeping, maintenance, human resources, accounting, activities, therapy and others.

The existing staff consists of nearly 100 workers across all departments, although the campus’ workforce usually averages 130-135 people. The open positions mostly are in the nursing department, but some also are housekeeping, assisted living and dietary roles.

“My staff that I have here are dedicated beyond belief,” Nelson said. “They are tired. They have pulled extra shifts. We try to keep our ratio the same, but yeah, they’re tired.”

Another consequence of insufficient staffing led to the closure of the campus’ memory care unit in February. The unit consists of 16 private rooms for residents who have memory issues.

“We were not able to staff it like we wanted to, so we had to close it and then move those clientele that were back there into the main population,” Nelson said.

Similarly, she said the campus has had to turn down admission to new residents given its limited ability to care for the residents already there.

“It’s scary, but you just have to adjust and trudge forward because we need to take care of these people,” Nelson said.

Prairie View isn’t alone among N’West Iowa long-term care facilities that are feeling the pinch of staff scarcity.

Whispering Heights Senior Living in Rock Valley recently reported having about a dozen open nursing positions, according to a news release from Hegg Health Center chief executive officer Glenn Zevenbergen.

Those part- and full-time spots include a mix of weekends, evenings and overnight shifts. Zevenbergen noted those shifts are usually filled by high school students and college graduates entering the field of health care.

“However, times have changed,” Zevenbergen said in the news release.

“Students are busier than ever with school events and social priorities. New graduates and existing staff are focusing on family-life balance, and increasingly are opting for work that does not involve nights or weekends. All of these items lead to increased turnover of existing staff with few new staff to fill the gaps.”

In light of the staffing difficulties at Whispering Heights, existing employees — including management staff — have stepped up to plug the gaps by working extra shifts. That’s been done to ensure that quality of care for residents is not affected.

“Leaders have tried to be creative with staffing by considering different shifts to increase flexibility. Various incentives have also been offered. Qualified staff from other departments on campus have also assisted with open shifts when available,” Zevenbergen and Whispering Heights director of senior services Kris Huyser said in a joint e-mail statement to The REVIEW.

Although recent staffing at Vista Prairie at Fieldcrest Senior Living Community in Sheldon is “fairly decent,” according to its senior executive director Cal Diekmann, the situation was much different between spring and winter last year.

“We were pretty staff challenged during that time, as were quite a few other people,” Diekmann said.

He recalled how the senior center briefly relied on staffing from an outside agency during that period but said it “didn’t work out so great.”

Other measures the facility took included offering incentives to existing staff to work extra hours and having managers help care for residents.

“One of my nurses worked pretty much dual shifts every day for a few months in there,” Diekmann said.

Fieldcrest also bumped up its starting wage for employees, which has helped with recruitment, and the center plans to do so again in July. Additionally, it is offering sign-on bonuses of $500 for day shifts, $800 for night shifts and $1,000 for overnight and weekend roles.

The facility has a staff of more than 40 workers; existing openings are for culinary aides, cooks, resident assistants and a registered nurse.

Prairie View Campus and Whispering Heights likewise offer bonuses and other hiring incentives for new recruits. Each site also assists with tuition assistance and reimbursement for nursing students working toward certification as certified nursing assistants, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or certified medical aides.

“If you are here wanting to go be an LPN or an RN, we can pay for you to go do it. Or if you have just graduated and are looking for a job, we will pay your debt for you,” Nelson said. “Then the CNA class, we pay for that.”

The best way to apply for work at any of the senior centers is online at their respective websites or calling the facilities for further information.

Professional licensure is not the only quality senior facility hiring managers look for in nursing applicants though.

Nelson, for instance, said she wants to hire people who care about the work and the people they would care for at Prairie View. Diekmann echoed that point.

“You have to be very caring. We can teach people how to do laundry and how to help in the kitchen and all that, but it’s hard to teach caring and respect for the elderly,” he said. “That has to come from inside.”

FOR MORE INFO:

N’West Iowa is home to many long-term care centers, and several are hiring. Here is a list of senior care centers in the region and ways to learn more about them:

Lyon County:

O’Brien County:

Osceola County:

Sioux County: