FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259
ESSENTIAL HEALTHCARE HEROES AT ABINGTON MANOR DEMAND SAFE STAFFING AND CONTINUITY OF CARE FOR THEIR PATIENTS
(NEW YORK, NY) – Today, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) demanded that Genesis Healthcare provide safe staffing levels at Abington Manor to allow caregivers to give their residents the quality and continuity of care they deserve. Throughout six months of negotiations, workers have asked for higher staffing levels, an additional 15-minute break in their workday, and access to quality healthcare. At every turn, management has stonewalled the committee, refusing to bargain around improving working conditions that are well below the state and federal standards.
Workers pride themselves on building relationships with their residents in order to provide the most compassionate care possible. Current staffing levels at Abington Manor are egregiously low, with RNs only spending an average of less than 30-minutes per patient per day, compared to the national average of 45-minutes and the Pennsylvania average of 53-minutes. Similarly, nurse aides at Abington Manor only spend an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes per resident per day, compared with the national average of 2 hours and 20 minutes and the Pennsylvania average of 2 hours and 7 minutes. (see below chart.) As a result, caregivers say their relationships with residents suffer, and families become frustrated with a lack of continuity in the personnel caring for their loved ones.
While workers have continued to provide care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic at dangerously low staffing levels, Abington Manor’s parent company Genesis Healthcare has received a combined $885,094 in HHS Provider Relief. Workers hoped these cash infusions would improve conditions on the ground through the hiring of more staff to lighten caseloads, but that didn’t happen.
The workers at Abington Manor are essential healthcare heroes, and RWDSU demands that Genesis treat them as such. The union calls on Genesis Healthcare to do right by its workforce and its customers by safely staffing the facility. The RWDSU demands that Genesis Healthcare provide their caregivers the break times and quality healthcare that will allow workers to provide the high-quality continuity of care families expect from Abington Manor.
“Resident care is not being properly managed and it's due to the lack of staff to care for the residents. Management continues giving open shifts to agency CNAs and LPNs, before giving them to regular in-house staff. We deserve what is right for staff and residents and would like to receive the proper help to care for the residents by giving quality and continuity of care,” said Colleen Mowery, CNA at Abington Manor.
“If I am on the floor for eight-hours and I divide that time equally between my residents, I am able to only spend 17-minutes with each of them. The amount of pressure the nurses feel to give complete, compassionate care while staying within those time constraints is immense. I have worked many shifts where the CNAs are stressed by the amount of work they need to complete too, and often are forced to cut corners or to not build relationships with the residents in order to do so. If your family was in a long-term facility, would you want them to not only receive competent care, but also feel like they have family in the building, so they do not feel alone? Working in such a way prevents us from achieving this. During negotiations, when we asked for an extra fifteen-minute break, Genesis management said it would cause a loss in productivity. What about the concern for loss of morale? Taking care of other people’s family to the point where they become family is taxing, physically and emotionally. We get sad, frustrated, and tired, and we need to be able to take a breath. Not being able to take care of ourselves hinders our ability to care for our residents. I love working at Abington Manor, not because of the culture but because of my fellow LPNs, CNAs, and the residents. I am hoping that by discussing the issues that are hidden from outsiders, that we can improve conditions and morale and feel like a family again,” said Kacey Walsh, LPN at Abington Manor.
“RWDSU members at Abington Manor are putting their lives on the line every day to care for other people’s loved ones. They are essential workers who care deeply about their residents, working around the clock to provide care throughout the pandemic. Not only do these caregivers deserve quality and affordable healthcare, but adequate break times and safe staffing levels. Our members’ working conditions are their residents’ living conditions. Abington Manor caregivers want only to give their residents the quality and continuity of care they deserve,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.