Nursing Home Members Gear Up for 2010
100 nursing home member leaders representing nursing homes from across the state came together in Harrisburg on October 20th and 21st to come up with a plan to improving care in Pennsylvania nursing homes in 2010.
Close to 75 nursing homes will be bargaining new contracts next year, presenting us with an opportunity to:
- Raise staffing levels in our facilities so we can give our residents the highest level of care
- Ensure quality, affordable health care for our families
- Secure our retirements with stable pensions
- Reduce staff turnover by increasing wages and paid time off
- Grow our training and education fund so we can improve the care we provide and advance our careers
We left the conference with petitions to take back to our facilities that ask our nursing home administrators to negotiate fair contracts that address these priorities.
However, we know that improving the care we provide in our nursing homes will also require taking our message to Harrisburg and Washington, DC. That's why during our conference we also spent some time visiting Senator Casey and Senator Specter's offices to tell them it's time to deliver on health care reform so that everyone has quality, affordable health care. And after we succeed in passing health care reform this year, we'll be lobbying our state legislators to increase staffing in our nursing homes.
Stay tuned. 2010 is going to be a big year.