Has anyone heard of a "national caregiver shortage"?

An additional comment on the caregiver shortage. The challenge to improving care, improving employee retention, better training and the like is to somehow prevent the cost of these changes from completely pricing all but the rich from care facilities.

I think when the extra 600 in unemployment was getting paid, no one was applying for caregiver jobs, if they qualified for unemployment.  Now that it is over, the agency I deal with said they are getting more applicants, and more want to work in private homes and facilities (pandemic fear).

Ann, a February, the person in my home's DL got changed to my address. The lockdown occurred and BOOM, crazy situation.

I am not involved in anything, refuse to be because pt is independent. That means to me she can function. I have no problem letting he sit in poo, problem is my floors. I explode alot.

So now that I cam evict, the judge says $62k to make her house livable because of the neglect the last few month.

So this is at least 6 to 8 hours of woundcare with circulation boots etc. a day. Then the toileting, which I wont do. APS was at the house 2 days ago becauae the person had a dr appt and the worker gave her 4 stool softeners and 32 oz of prune juice. By the time I got home, it was the 1 hr before the same worker was coming back...she made the mess, she can clean it so she reported it.

Now no workers for days. Agency says there is a shortage and I am doing gods work to which my response was she is the devil and needs to be banished. I was told the Bible does not work that way.

I cant and wont do this, i have anxiety attacks where my pulse goes through the roof like 150-160. It is hell.

Yes, there is a caregiver shortage. Reasons? Low pay, few if any benefits, no career path, poor training, high stress, and more. Facilities and agencies employing caregivers conduct poor hiring interviews and poor training. A new facility employee may sit down and watch a 4 hour video then be expected to perform the job well. Turnover is tremendous in these organizations. Someone caring for a dementia patient for example may have to withstand verbal and physical abuse, patient urinary and fecal incontinence, poor supervision, etc. There is much concern for this shortage and how to address it. It all begins with the hiring practices of the companies. Training must be much more extensive and be person (patient) centered and competency based. Several states are addressing this problem with specific laws detailing hiring practices, training, benefits, dementia behaviors, etc. The demand for these jobs far exceeds the supply at this time because of the afore mentioned reasons.

If you want an extensive discussion on it follow these links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215393/
https://phinational.org/

The week before my mom passed i had called an agency to try and get an overnight aide for her, and the owner told me he was having a hard time finding caregivers. I think a lot of people pulled their LO's out of facilities and hired in home care. That combined with professional caregivers leaving their jobs for their own health, and their family's health, and there is a shortage.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/home-health-care-workers-at-tipping-point-amid-coronavirus-outbreak.html
The above is from April.
We are peaking again, and I expect it will get worse in so far as shortages--just a guess. A friend manages a High End ALF in San Francisco. She says it is getting very difficult to get workers; they pay quite well. I don't know if that is true city wide. She tells me that many of their workers were working two jobs, and will go from 8 hour shift with her facility, which has all levels of care, to 8 hours at another facility. Right now, because her place remains Covid-19 free they are not employing people who are working at other care facilities.
My fear has ALWAYS been, given we still aren't getting inadequate supplies of the needed PPE in many places, is that a new peak may see people still suffering a lot of post traumatic stress from the first go around with Covid-19 simply quitting.
These are very tough times. Hope you find quality help soon.

Stacy, I understand that you are in a very difficult situation, but you have said very little about the details needed to give you information you’re seeking.

Could you provide some info on whom you are a caregiver for, what agency has told you about the shortage, and who’s telling you that you’re “doing God’s work”?