The Health-Care Staffing Crisis Is Bad and Getting Worse
The shortages throughout the system, from doctors and nurses to home health aides, are a “national emergency.”
For much of his life, Justin Cooper’s mother was his caregiver. But she was recently hospitalized, and Cooper, who is 41 and has muscular dystrophy, can’t find enough home health aides to fill the void. Unable to hire someone who can stay late on weekends to help him get into bed, he often sleeps in his wheelchair, causing his legs to swell and develop pressure sores. “It’s been a struggle finding people who can come in at specific hours to help,” says Cooper, who lives in Chicago. “It’s not a good situation.”
America is in dire need of more health-care workers. There are shortages throughout the system, from doctors and nurses in hospital emergency rooms to aides who work in the homes of seniors and people with disabilities. The crisis has been brewing for years as aging baby boomers put unprecedented strain on the health-care system. The Covid-19 pandemic has only magnified the problem.