Our nursing home leaders at Westmoreland Manor took action and spoke out about the need for essential workers to earn pandemic pay who served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis and called on the nursing home industry to end catastrophic short-staffing.
Tammy Steban, an LPN, and Stefanie Henry, a Unit Clerk, both from Westmoreland Manor, successfully published their own letters to the editor in the Tribune-Review in response to an article that the County Board approved pandemic pay for nursing home workers. We’re posting links and the letters in full from Tammy Steban and Stefanie Henry below.
(Check out our previous post: “Use Federal Tax Dollars to Fix Short-Staffing Crisis, Not Executive Bonuses!”)
Crisis of Short-Staffing Demands Pandemic Pay for Essential Workers
The approval of federal covid-19 response dollars for Westmoreland Manor workers could not have come soon enough (“Pandemic bonuses approved for Westmoreland Manor staff,” Oct. 21, TribLIVE).
There is a major short-staffing crisis across the entire nursing home industry right now. It is imperative that available federal dollars go to providing living wages to our essential workers and reduce short-staffing before our workforce hollows out altogether.
I have worked as a licensed practical nurse at Westmoreland Manor for 17 years. The best way to keep our workers from leaving is to provide us the proper recognition and respect for our dedicated service through fair and living wages.
Any proposal to give middle management and senior executives at Westmoreland Manor financial bonuses instead of giving all the available federal tax dollars to our frontline workers is a gross misuse of what the American Rescue Plan federal funds were intended for.
The time to invest in our nursing home workers is now.
Tammy Steban, Mt. Pleasant
Our SEIU PA Union Fought for and Won Pandemic Pay!
I appreciate the Tribune’s reporting on Westmoreland Manor’s nursing home workers finally receiving pandemic pay to improve bedside care for residents, reduce short-staffing, and to retain our overwhelmed workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But what many readers don’t know is that our fellow nursing home workers, through our SEIU Healthcare PA union, advocated our state lawmakers to make sure these federal tax dollars actually go to our frontline workers.
I’ve served as a Unit Clerk at Westmoreland for over 10 years and witnessed the trauma of the pandemic firsthand.
If it wasn’t for our nursing home workers doing what we always do, advocating for our seniors and residents, these federal dollars never would have gone to retain and respect our essential workers who sacrifice every day to provide quality care during this public health crisis.
In other words, being a part of our union protects our entire community.
Stefanie Henry, Youngwood