Opinion

Opinion: New York must invest in training nursing assistants

We need to scale an equity-focused model to address New York’s senior care staffing crisis

Jeffrey Farber, fourth from the left, and state Sen. Cordell Cleare, fifth from the left, during a a recent visit to The New Jewish Home

Jeffrey Farber, fourth from the left, and state Sen. Cordell Cleare, fifth from the left, during a a recent visit to The New Jewish Home The New Jewish Home

New York is home to one of the nation’s largest populations of older adults. By the end of this decade a full quarter of our state, or 5.3 million people, will be 60 or older. Yet today, 75% of New York’s 614 nursing homes are unable to meet staffing minimums due to a shortage of nursing professionals. This is troubling news for our growing senior population – and an indication that we urgently need to invest in new solutions to support frontline providers.

As state budget negotiations continue in Albany, we must prioritize investments in programs that enable us to meet our immediate staffing challenges while setting in place the training infrastructure to support New York’s next generation of caregivers. Currently, such training is not readily accessible for many New Yorkers, yet it has never been more necessary. We face soaring levels of burnout among nursing professionals and a generation of Baby Boomers aging into retirement, leaving us with a national deficit of 400,000 caregivers and counting.

The good news is that there are communities with untapped potential across New York who can help alleviate the healthcare workforce shortage. We should commit to scaling programs that increase opportunities for skills training and good jobs to more New Yorkers, especially in Black and brown communities that are brimming with talent that is too often stifled by poverty and lack of resources. Such initiatives are a life-changing resource for individuals who might otherwise have few options, enabling them to pursue rewarding careers caring for our seniors.

Some of this critical work is already underway. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed FY24 budget includes multibillion dollar commitments to ensure access to aging services. However, much of this funding is limited to supporting Registered Nurses, and we should be expanding investments to develop a broader spectrum of career pipelines – expanding access to other in-demand and more entry-level roles in the industry such as Certified Nursing Assistants.

We have an existing successful model for what a provider-operated program in partnership with local schools and universities can look like. The New Jewish Home, located in Upper Manhattan, is a longstanding nonprofit healthcare system for older adults that has helped hundreds of local residents get their foot in the door toward a long-term career in health care through a program in partnership with local Manhattan and Bronx schools.

The initiative, called SkillSpring, offers programs for high school students and young adults who are disconnected from school and facing additional life challenges. Since 2006, over 1,000 young people have graduated and began their careers as CNAs. Many have since worked up the healthcare career ladder and pursued additional degrees and licenses. SkillSpring graduates are also registered nurses, and even physicians in training. A senior workforce training program like this not only provides much needed experiential learning and mentorship opportunities for underserved young adults, but crucial wraparound social services support for those who are unemployed, homeless, or otherwise at-risk.

We have seen firsthand how this opportunity changes young people’s lives, while helping to meet the demand for healthcare workers. Let us tell you about a remarkable young woman named Yolaury Hernandez.

Yolaury was nine years old when her family emigrated from the Dominican Republic and settled in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. She was a sophomore at the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, one of SkillSpring’s partner schools, when a teacher encouraged her to apply. Before joining the program, Yolaury had no plans to attend college and expected to work in any available low wage job. Once she joined SkillSpring, Yolaury found her purpose and learned the valuable caregiving skills needed to become a CNA. When the pandemic hit, Yolaury worked at The New Jewish Home on the frontlines providing lifesaving care to older adults. She also earned a Bachelor’s in nursing at Lehman College, and is now working as a registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit at one of the city’s leading health systems, NYU Langone Health.

In short, New York needs more stories like Yolaury’s – of young people in our city who face tremendous life challenges, struggle at the outset of their professional careers, but, given the right opportunity, make the most of it and then some.

Workforce programs that extend career opportunities to disadvantaged young adults while simultaneously helping New York meet the challenge of caring for its aging population are a win-win that the State should commit to expanding in this year’s budget. SkillSpring offers us a scalable example. Now it is up to our leaders to act this budget season and ensure such opportunities are available to the next generation.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.