Support Long Term Care Facilities

In the month of May, 350 long-term care facilities (LTC) in Massachusetts will be tested for COVID19, after which we anticipate as many as 15-30% of the staff will need to self-quarantine for a 10-14 day period after a C19+ test result. This will leave a yawning gap within LTC facilities until mid-June leaving the oldest and frail members of our state vulnerable.

The state is seeking volunteers and paid workers to temporarily help long-term care facilities’ staffing shortages. Volunteers are being recruited to serve two 8-12 hour shifts within one facility for a 10-14 day period.

All volunteers have access to a free 3 hour National COVID-Ready Caregiver Certification on infection control and universal precaution measures.

Who are we looking for?
- Experienced Licensed/Certified Healthcare Professionals
- Health care students with clinical experience can volunteer as a Patient Care Technician Role (PCT)
- Those without any clinical experience but still want to help can volunteer as a Resident Care Assistant (RCA)


Matching process
Once volunteers express interest in this opportunity, a staff member from Boston Cares will direct you on how to complete the intake process with the state. Volunteers are matched with long-term care facilities near them based on their scheduling availability. Sometimes matches happen quickly, other times you will be matched a few weeks later.

Volunteer/Worker Safety
The Commonwealth’s COVID Response Command Center prioritized care in long term care facilities and is working with each organization to ensure safety for residents and workers. To this end, the state has committed over $260M to support nursing facilities throughout the COVID-19 emergency. Half of this funding is dedicated to providing additional staffing and supports for workers responding to the state of emergency, including the following:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): The Command Center prioritized the distribution of stockpile PPE equipment including masks, gloves and gowns to nursing facilities statewide. The Command Center is actively monitoring facilities to ensure they have a constant supply of PPE to protect their workers. 
 
Mandatory COVID Testing: All facilities must test all staff and residents for COVID-19 (facilities that have already tested must validate and provide results)
 
New Infection Control Audit Rating: all facilities will be regularly audited against a 28-point Infection Control Checklist. Audit Ratings will directly determine level of funding.
 
In addition, the Massachusetts Senior Care Association has created a centralized, infection control performance improvement center utilizing experts from Hebrew Senior Life and a consortium of providers with expertise in this area. This command center will provide direct infection control support to facilities that need help.