Florida asks VA for medical help at nursing homes that have lost staffers to COVID-19
Staffing shortages at Florida’s community nursing homes are so dire that the state has asked the federal Veterans Health Administration to provide assistance because of the emergency stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Tuesday.
The assistance by the VHA, which falls under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, started Tuesday and will last for one month, said Jason Mahon, spokesman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
He said the VHA is providing up to fifteen teams — each with six healthcare workers, including a physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner, registered nurses, nursing assistants and therapist. The teams will assist Florida’s nursing homes through May 21, until there is a need to extend the deadline, he said.
“These teams will be used as needed to augment existing staffing in facilities when staffing levels are critically impacted,” Mahon said.
He said the VHA’s assistance, coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will help “backfill” or substitute for nursing home staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The goal is for each nursing home to hire additional staff to provide care for COVID-19 residents and infection-control training, he said.
Mahon, however, did not provide any information on how many state-licensed community nursing homes have staff shortages, where they are located, and how VHA employees will be deployed to them.
Florida’s elder care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities, have become a focus of controversy since the coronavirus pandemic struck in early March because they are considered lethal incubators with aging and ailing residents.
On Saturday, state officials revealed for the first time that 303 facilities in 45 counties have staff or residents who have tested positive for the deadly respiratory infection.
The facilities were named in a list released by the Florida Department of Health after Gov. Ron DeSantis reversed the agency’s policy and ordered the state’s surgeon general to release the names of the facilities. The Miami Herald and other news organizations had alerted the state that it would sue to obtain the information under Florida’s public records law.
“I have now directed him to determine that it is necessary for public health to release the names of the facilities where a resident or staff member is tested positive for COVID-19,’’ DeSantis said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 7:17 PM.
