As Arizonans age, the demand for qualified long-term care staff grows by the day. The work is difficult and the pay is relatively low. It’s why one organization launched a program to recruit, train and retain workers. Now, it has issued its final report.
Dave Voepel is the CEO of the Arizona Healthcare Association, which represents skilled nursing homes. In 2022, his organization received a $6.5 million grant to address the workforce shortage in long-term care. They called it AHCA Works. The goal was to recruit 1,500 workers.
"And we recruited 2,217 students into the long-term care workforce in both assisted living and skilled nursing facilities."
Even more exciting, he says, is the retention rate.
"89% retention over the past 30 days. And more importantly, if you look out 120 days, those numbers are still pretty high. I mean, it's over half. I think the number was somewhere in the 60% range."
Voepel says one reason retention was so high was that participating facilities had to have two staff serve as trained preceptors. They supported new caregivers as they learned the ropes.
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