Connor Kolb holds a photo of his grandparents Albert and Sally Hulin as he sits at his kitchen table in Orchard Park Tuesday, December 14, 2021. Kolb has been trying to get his grandparents into the same nursing home for about six months, but that is proving difficult amid staffing shortages.
There are other factors pressuring local hospitals, from employee shortages to difficulties discharging patients who need to be in long-term care facilities that don't have room.
Just under 200 nursing home workers at Weinberg Campus in Amherst are working without a contract while they weigh a job action should their fight for a multiyear contract stall. Complicating matters more is a long-delayed sale of most of the campus.
Most hospitals are now full which has resulted in elective surgeries being postponed. Why are they full? Obviously because of Covid, but there is also another reason. Nursing homes don’t have enough staff and therefore can’t admit patients from the hospitals. Why don’t nursing homes have enough staff? This is because New York State does not reimburse nursing homes for what it costs to care for Medicaid patients.
Connor Kolb sits at his kitchen table in Orchard Park Tuesday, December 14, 2021. Kolb has been trying to get his grandparents Albert and Sally Hulin into the same nursing home for about six months, but that is proving difficult amid staffing shortages.
Connor Kolb holds a photo of his grandparents Albert and Sally Hulin as he sits at his kitchen table in Orchard Park Tuesday, December 14, 2021. Kolb has been trying to get his grandparents into the same nursing home for about six months, but that is proving difficult amid staffing shortages.
Connor Kolb sits at his kitchen table in Orchard Park Tuesday, December 14, 2021. Kolb has been trying to get his grandparents Albert and Sally Hulin into the same nursing home for about six months, but that is proving difficult amid staffing shortages.
