Kelly Aicardi opened the garage door to reveal a storage unit stuffed with wheelchairs, walkers and beds. This equipment-stuffed area is known as the loan closet and is what remains of Juneau’s hospice care. In September , the city’s sole provider of in-home care ended its operations.
Aicardi stated that “this used to be much more active when we had Hospice patients.” “Part of hospice is that we provide all equipment for patients.”
She is a Catholic Community Services volunteer coordinator. Because it couldn’t afford nursing staff, the hospice and home-health divisions were closed.
Home and hospice patients now have to go without specialist care, and some even resort to emergency room visits. This is one consequence of a larger nursing shortage in the state that has been affecting the quality of medical care throughout the state. It shows no sign of slowing down.
Erin Walker-Tolles is the organization’s director. She says that she has struggled for years to staff the program. However, the pandemic created a tighter market for nurses.
“This country is facing a huge shortage of health care workers. It’s particularly difficult in Alaska,” she stated.
Walker-Tolles claims they were priced out because the demand for nurses who travel increased rapidly and the prices have risen over the last few years.
She said that the shortage of healthcare workers is impacting smaller and nonprofit providers, particularly in the United States.
Bartlett Regional Hospital will assume hospice and home care. However, there will be some waiting. The hospital will also take over the local nursing home . Juneau’s care providers aren’t the only ones having trouble maintaining staff. About 25% of Alaska’s nursing positions are unfilled.
Jared Kosin, the president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association is a trade association that represents hospitals and care centres. He said that consolidations such as the one in Juneau are not closures. They just look different. He spoke out about the negative feedback loop that is affecting state healthcare providers.
“Once you have a shortage of nurses and workers, your ability to provide the services you offer and your capabilities are severely limited.” Kosin stated that if you provide fewer services, your revenue will be lower.
The ability to collect revenue is decreasing while expenses are rising rapidly. Consolidations like those in Juneau are leading to closures in the Lower 48. Kosin claims that people end up in hospitals because smaller providers of “step-down” care — such as hospices and nursing homes — are unable to keep their patients afloat.
He said, “If you cannot discharge to the lower level care, the whole system grinds to a halt.”
Kosin believes that the hospital’s bottom line is negatively affected by the building up of patients. There is no way to pay for unnecessary hospital stays. It’s an economically-related problem that has created a social problem.
He said, “All those people are still piling up at the hospitals.” They are stuck in the most costly environment for healthcare in our system. The problem is that they are not required to be in this environment.
Kelly Aicardi, back at the hospice loan closet was trying to figure out how she could manage the non-medical services that she still provides.
Aicardi stated that it was stressful for employees. It’s even more damaging for the entire community.
She said she has been receiving phone calls from people whose parents have died and are in need of end-of-life care.
They know this is the only hospice. Then I have to inform them that we have suspended services. They are then like, “What can I do?” It’s hard because I don’t have any answers.
