Renee Hayes: State must not short-change funding for long-term care centers

By Renee Hayes

It’s been just over a year since I started living at a skilled nursing facility.

After my husband died several years ago, I had been living with a neighbor until my medical needs simply outgrew the care she could reasonably provide in her home.

Although I never would’ve envisioned myself here, I’ve built myself a good life. The activities calendar is full of events and outings, and the staff treats me like a member of their own family. I love the people I spend my time with.

Most of my fellow residents are in the same situation as me. This building has become our home, and these employees really have become our family.

That truth can be a tough one to hear: Without this community, I don’t know where I’d be.

And yet, many skilled nursing facilities like the one I live in across Washington state are struggling to keep their doors open. If our building closed, residents like me would have to be transferred somewhere else and likely end up further away from the communities we’ve called home for decades and the people who know us the best.

It is, in short, a money problem. The state’s Medicaid reimbursement rates have shortchanged long-term care communities for far too long and I am one of the people whose care has been subsequently impacted as a result.

Most prominently, Washington nursing homes need greater resources from the state in order to better invest in current staff and also attract more trained caregivers. Washington state nursing facilities desperately need more caregivers. We need to protect Medicaid funding and urge Washington state legislators and the Department of Social and Health Services to increase reimbursement rates. A higher reimbursement rate would allow for better staff to resident ratios as well as giving facilities the funding to offer competitive wages, especially when other types of health care facilities like hospitals and private clinics can readily offer higher wages.

After moving here, I joined the Resident Council in an effort to help better the lives of the people who live alongside me and the staff who care for us. As much as I do enjoy living here, it’s not easy to get things changed when the resources invested by the state are so limited in the first place. I am speaking out now in an effort to shine a light into a world that most people don’t think about.

Before I lived here, I didn’t think skilled nursing homes would be a good fit more me. But after becoming a resident, I am deeply appreciative of how hard every one of our staff members works to make our lives better. I wish they were better compensated for their efforts which is limited by inadequate Medicaid funding allocated by the state. I’ve fortunately been proven wrong in my previous opinion about skilled nursing homes – there is nowhere I’d rather be than here.

As part of the broader health care system, nursing homes act like a relief valve for stressed hospitals and receive transfers of roughly 40,000 patients each year. As the number of Washington residents over the age of 65 continues its rapid climb, the number of beds in long-term care communities available will very soon be far less than what we need. I’ve learned that our state expects the population of adults 65 or older to double by 2050, and while I trust the hard work of my caregivers every day, I know that we’re not ready to provide for the needs of that many more people.

As a resident of a skilled nursing facility, I urge our state lawmakers to take note of the incredible value that long-term care provides to people like me across our state. I’m so grateful to be here and not in an expensive hospital bed or isolated at home.

As lawmakers deal with our state’s budget challenges, they must not short-change long-term care. I’m depending on it, and someday, so will you.

Renee Hayes is a resident at Royal Park Health and Rehabilitation in Spokane and has lived in Spokane for over 20 years.