“We’re holding on, but it’s a strange time,” he said.
Sapphire Lutheran Homes has focused on retaining its employees who have stayed with them during the pandemic.
“They are tired, like everyone in the health care business right now,” Harden said. “If we could have volunteers who could help complete the good work they are already doing, that would be great. “
“There are some things volunteers can’t do, but they can help with activities, answer phones and help with vacuuming,” he said. “These are the things that we miss when we’re so stretched out. We still maintain, don’t get me wrong, but this is the smallest pool of staff I’ve seen in my 11 years.
COVID is at the root of the staff shortage, Bucheit said.
“Right now we have positive cases for the residents of our building,” he said. “You can’t let people take care of people with COVID who are HIV positive and have them go to another area and take care of healthy people. This means that you need a completely separate staff.
At the same time, Bucheit said they currently have 11 employees who are either with COVID or with symptoms that need to be treated before they can return.
“It’s the double whammy of this thing at this point,” he said.
