This post has been highly requested for quite some time and it’s finally here! I wrote it, took a break, came back to it, didn’t like it, deleted, and re-wrote it again. Here goes:
For those that don’t know, I’m a Speech-Language therapist in a skilled nursing facility – a nursing home, if you will. I was brought onto the team at my current facility March 17th, 2020 just as the US was catching wind of the pandemic and shutting everything down. I never had the chance to experience normalcy in my facility, but I’ll do my best to describe what it used to be like at the others I’ve worked at.
A Happy Facility
A nursing home is a happy place in my eyes. I see residents that can’t care for themselves being cared for by nurses and doctors. Pre-pandemic I would frequently see residents wheeling themselves to their friend’s rooms for some coffee, walking down to the activity center for an ice cream social or a round of bingo, and families visiting their loved ones at bedside. People frequently tell me that I must have some kind of special heart to work in a place like a nursing home, and while that may or may not be true, it’s an easy place to love.
Now, imagine going from a place like I just described to place that allows no visitors in the building. Residents were quarantined in their own rooms. They went from exploring the facility freely to having all three meals per day in their rooms. Many residents in the facility have dementia and don’t understand why all of a sudden their caretakers are wearing masks, gowns, and face shields. The pandemic was hard on them and I saw many of my residents decline and many of my residents pass away.
Pandemic + Productivity
That being said, I never truly felt the effects of the pandemic during the first 9 months. With residents passing and those who tested positive being transferred to a sister facility, the total census of the facility dropped significantly over time. The last 3 months have been painful for me and fellow therapists with our caseloads reaching an all time low.
Those who aren’t familiar with the setting I’m in have told me to look on the bright side, “at least you get to cruise the rest of the day when you finish your work.” This isn’t the case. Work requires evaluating therapists like myself to remain 90% productive. So if an 8 hour day is 480 minutes, I must be providing face to face treatment for 432 minutes leaving only 48 minutes of wiggle room in which I write doctors orders, talk to nurses, make kitchen runs for solids/liquids, etc. It’s harder than it sounds!
Like I mentioned though, my caseload has been low. I’m providing approximately 2.5 hours/day worth of treatment lately and I’m leaving when my work is done to remain compliant with the company’s 90% productivity standard. I enjoy the setting I work in, but hourly pay is the biggest con during a time like this.
Testing + FAQ
Almost immediately with the outbreak of the virus I started being tested twice per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for about 6-9 months. Cases have since decreased in the county my facility is located, and I’m only being tested once per week now. Hooray!
Why are you still being tested even though you’re vaccinated?
The easy answer is because the facility said so, but I’m sure as an extra precaution to protect residents since there isn’t enough research on how well vaccines prevent vaccinated people from transmitting the virus to others. All residents and employees at the facility who wanted the vaccine received it. Per the director of nursing, it looks like we’ll be testing once per month here pretty soon. SO ready for that!
Why aren’t you traveling with your low caseload?
1) I couldn’t travel further than a 100 mile radius from my facility for a long time. Travel restrictions for employees have been rough! For example, I traveled out of state and only needed one day off, but I needed to quarantine for 72 hours and test negative before returning to work. So instead of using 1 day PTO, that quickly turned into 4 days. Yes, it’s as awful as it sounds. Basically wasting my PTO to comply with company standards.
2) I bill insurance for the treatment I provide. The doctors orders state I will provide therapy services 5x/week on 5 separate days. I can’t just combine all the treatment sessions for the week into a shorter period of time.
I hope this blog post has provided some insight as to what I’ve been going through at work lately for all who have asked. I’d also like to note that this is my personal experience at my facility and this differs from one nursing home to the next.
Thanks for reading!
XO, Vivian