Letter to the editor: Health care staffing is crucial

To the editor:

Addison Stover is to be commended for pursuing a degree in Medicine at KU and also for her excellent opinion piece, “A CNA’s Plea for change: increase staffing in nursing homes,” in your Dec. 8 edition. Her points were all right on target!

Following a seven-hour life-saving surgery at KU Medical Center, I’ve been a patient in three successive rehabilitation facilities and one skilled nursing facility. In every place there were chronic staff shortages that were exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. The state relaxed the requirements and training hours required to become a certified nursing assistant. Enterprising high school juniors take the training and then start working as CNAs. We should admire their initiative, but they do not have the life experience or maturity to deal with an actual crisis, or in some cases even a routine task. I don’t mind instructing them when necessary, but worry about other residents, or what will happen when I can no longer advocate for myself.

As Addison states, we must restore tighter CNA certification requirements and the facilities must find a way to attract and maintain adequate staffing levels before tragedy strikes.

Graham Kreicker,

Lawrence