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* From the Illinois Nurses Association…

Nurses represented by the Illinois Nurses Association are joined by colleagues from the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees Union to conduct informational picketing to call attention to the woeful staffing conditions at both Chicago-Read Mental Health Center and the Illinois Veterans Home at Chicago.
Chicago-Read Mental Health Center is a state-run inpatient JCAHO-accredited facility with between 150 and 200 beds located on the northwest side of the city.

The Illinois Veterans’ Home at Chicago offers 200 private rooms with baths. Its open floor plan creates community around pods of living and dining spaces. The home accommodates veterans seeking skilled nursing and memory care.

In 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a statement announcing a statewide recruitment and retention campaign to more fully staff state-run health agencies. According to INA, the agencies have not responded to this clarion call for new staff.

Nurses who work at the VA Home at Chicago have filed a number of complaints about inadequate staffing and consistent payroll issues. According to the INA, The Chicago VA location employs 12 RNs and these nurses care for 24 veterans. Nurses are often required to work alone during the day shift and families of the vets have rightly inquired about why there only one nurse taking care of all 24 patients. Several families have pulled their Vet out of the Chicago VA because of the lack of RNs.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 2:47 pm

Comments

Sickening. The Governor must do better. Much better. The staffing crisis in the State of Illinois is as bad as it has ever been. Touting a 1 billion dollar rainy day fund while all of these vacancies exist is…grotesque.

It is time for the Governor to become personally involved. Offer anything and everything to recruit professionals in DHS, DVA, DCFS, and DOC.

And if the management you have either kept from Rauner or brought on keep telling you “no one wants to work,” then I have some sound advice for you JB…fire them. Get people in these positions who can actually solve problems.

This isn’t a partisan issue. Get it done.

Comment by MG85 Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 3:57 pm
The state of Illinois is not capable of addressing this issue. It’s not that there aren’t people with the skills that we need. It’s that they don’t want to work for us.

Add that the “new” CMS job system just takes the worst of both public and private sector hiring and mashes them together in an even more opaque system than we had before.

It’s going to take time and money to fix and we don’t have either. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/12/worker-shortage-public-sector-crisis/

Comment by Sangamo Girl Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 4:30 pm
Labor shortages, especially in the nursing field, are one thing. Whatever the issues are with the state veterans homes, its not a lack of funding or money.

Comment by Dutch Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 4:41 pm
I agree with Sangamo Girl. The ability to navigate and select agencies, counties or job titles has been replaced with general search. Then different agencies are entering things in a nonstandard fashion. I get the application can be routed electronically but we have gone one step forward and then back half a step. It is more opaque.

Comment by Joshua P. Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 4:48 pm
My mom’s facility in McHenry has been like this since before the pandemic. In the last month, they finally recovered to their 2019, understaffed level.

It is a country-wide problem.

Comment by Proud Sucker Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 5:33 pm
“The Illinois Veterans’ Home at Chicago offers 200 private rooms with baths. Nurses who work at the VA Home at Chicago have filed a number of complaints about inadequate staffing and consistent payroll issues. According to the INA, The Chicago VA location employs 12 RNs and these nurses care for 24 veterans. Nurses are often required to work alone during the day shift and families of the vets have rightly inquired about why there only one nurse taking care of all 24 patients. Several families have pulled their Vet out of the Chicago VA because of the lack of RNs.”

Firstly, this home is at 10% occupancy? Huge problem. Secondly, 12 nurses for 24 vets: even being charitable and assuming a 40 hour week per nurse and no OT and these nurses work mostly during the day shift, it is inconceivable that only one nurse could be on the day shift at any one time on any kind of regular basis.

Comment by ESR Tuesday, Sep 13, 22 @ 7:48 pm
And yet the INA blocks every attempt to bring in more fully qualified nurses to Illinois. Hilarious. Maybe they should check with their lobbyist(s) on that. Lots of us can “Do better”

Comment by Jeff Wednesday, Sep 14, 22 @ 5:28 am