The agenda for a Wednesday morning meeting of the Sheboygan County Health Care Center Committee was dominated by the half dozen vacancies on the Rocky Knoll staff, a persistent issue with no clear end in sight.
Kayla Clinton, Nursing Home Administrator at Rocky Knoll, says that turnover at the County-owned facility has been an ongoing problem, especially with nurses and certified nursing assistants. One of them, a Second Shift Supervisor position, has been open for a year and has seen no interest, an example of the lengthy time periods involved with the open positions. Other vacant positions include Therapy Assistants, an Environmental Services Worker, Receptionist and also that of the Director of Clinical Services.
With so many vacant positions, Rocky Knoll has been forced to adjust by reducing the overall census, and not taking on more people if they can’t be properly cared for based upon the current staffing. Rocky Knoll typically houses between 120-125 residents, but right now there are only 92, and that’s created another problem since fewer residents means less revenue.
Clinton said that “Cares” act funding along with other state and county support has helped cover the lost revenue, and money from the federal coronavirus ARPA fund should be approved in November. But the solution still comes down to filling the vacancies, and Clinton knows that Rocky Knoll has to compete with everyone else for that. She says that with Sheboygan County and the manufacturing job situation they’re competing with, it’s very difficult finding any workers. Rocky Knoll also competes with all of the healthcare industry in the County, including nursing homes, hospitals, hospices and assisted living, and so “we’re all fishing from the same pond, and there’s very few fish left.”
Catching “the fish” sometimes means using the right bait. Clinton says that Rocky Knoll is trying to address everything from base wages to shift differentials on the off-shifts. They’re looking at career paths and they’ve created student loan repayment and tuition reimbursement as a way to attract and maintain current staff. But with no end in sight, Clinton said they’ll just have to keep up the fight.
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