Pay increase, raise, coins, money

Long-term care staff members working full-time in Minnesota facilities during the pandemic could be in line to receive a $1,500 bonus from a $250 million state fund designed to help essential workers.

Long-term care providers would receive an estimated $96 million to cover the bonuses. The issue was up for debate by a state commission responsible for making a recommendation on how the funding should be distributed among essential workers, the Minnesota Reformer reported

The only directive given to the lawmaker group is that long-term care workers must be included, the report explained. Other essential workers in line to receive the relief funding included personal care aides, child care workers and janitors.

The state currently has 38,000 nursing home and 41,500 assisted living facility employees working full-time.

“It is truly frightening the workforce crisis that we have today,” Kari Thurlow, LeadingAge Minnesota’s senior vice president of advocacy, told the lawmakers Tuesday. 

“Simply put, staff are mentally and physically exhausted, and yet at the same time they are gearing up for the fourth wave, driven largely by the spread of the delta variant,” she added.