A recent story in Providence Business News (“R.I. nursing homes rate well in satisfaction survey,” PBN.com, May 5) showcased the results of a nationwide survey that rated resident and family satisfaction of nursing homes. Rhode Island homes rated extremely well when compared with our national counterparts. Ninety-two percent of residents and 90 percent of family members rated nursing home care as “good” or “excellent.” As a nursing home administrator, it’s great to hear some positive news about nursing home care. Unfortunately, a big part of the story was left untold.
This year, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri is proposing nearly $60 million in funding cuts and cost savings measures to nursing home care. His proposal will force facilities to eliminate caregiver positions, while at the same time, care for a higher-acuity patient – a dangerous combination.
If passed, the high-quality care that Rhode Island skilled nursing homes have struggled to provide will be impossible to attain. Marion Davis, the reporter who wrote about the satisfaction surveys, has written in the past about advances in nursing home care, such as the culture change movement, which is helping organizations move away from an institutional mode of care to more personal, home-like settings. Just as we’re making great strides in this area, our legs could presumably be cut out from under us due to lack of funding. And who is ultimately hurt by all this? The frail elders who count on us for their care.
Earlier this year, Rhode Islanders were buzzing about the governor’s chopping of state jobs – a move that sought to eliminate 1,000 positions, or 3.5 percent of state employees. To put the nursing home cuts in perspective, in my organization alone, I would have to reduce 12 percent of caregiver jobs if the nursing home funding cuts go through. Nursing homes are already struggling with a caregiver shortage. If the governor’s proposal passes, we could be forced to lay off those professionals that we now consider ourselves lucky to have. We would be taking major strides backward.
I’ve framed the PBN article on the satisfaction survey results and posted it in my nursing home. Who knows if we’ll be seeing another of its kind next year. •
Richard Gamache is the vice president/administrator for Roger Williams Medical Center Elmhurst Extended Care.