April 4, 2013
LANSING, Mich. - Today, the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) announced that it has authorized an amendment to contract 51B2200006 between J2S and the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans (GRHV) which was implemented on March 13, 2013. The contract requires J2S to provide nurse aides to the Grand Rapids Home and the amendment approved by the agency allows J2S to begin immediately soliciting other businesses to subcontract with J2S to meet contract requirements.
"Providing consistent and high quality care to the members at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans is the top priority for the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency," said Jeff Barnes, MVAA director. "The move today to amend the contract is not about the quality of the care given by J2S employees, but the quantity of employees provided."
According to Sara Dunne, GRHV administrator, the continuum of care during the transition to contract employees has, for the most part been smooth. Dunne said soon after the transition, they were seeing a pattern of shortages of contract workers reporting for shift. These shortages were covered by other workers at the home to prevent disruption of member care. At no time has the home failed to deliver the hours of care required by the USDVA.
Last week, a meeting between J2S, the agency and the contract compliance officer for the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs resulted in the request for an amendment allowing J2S to subcontract with other qualified staffing specialists to fulfill contract obligations and create a deeper talent pool. According to JoAnn Cripps, GRHV director of nursing, a review of J2S performance in providing contract staff to the home determined that J2S has filled, on average, 99.6% of staffing needs at the Home under the contract.
J2S, the contractor supplying nursing aides to the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, is required to provide 100% of the nurse assistants and supervisors required by the contract for every shift. Periodic shortages of nursing aides are not new at the Home. Prior to assuming the current contract, J2S held a contract with the Home for almost nine years supplying contract staff for unfilled shifts held by former state workers.
"Changing the current contract to allow for subcontracting allows J2S time to complete the contract transition time, which is typically about three months, without compromising care or requiring workers to work multiple shifts," said Barnes. "After investigating our options, the agency decided that it is in the best interest of the members of the home to allow J2S to subcontract for employees to deepen the talent pool under the criteria required in the contract."
The contract requires all CNA staff provided by J2S to have:
- An active Competency Evaluated Nurse Aide Certificate;
- A minimum of one year of experience and ability to work with the elderly in a long term care environment;
- Ability to provide assisted care according to accepted standards, with patience, tolerance, and caring at all times.
- Willingness and ability to improve knowledge about the elderly and their care, and apply that knowledge to the work place.
- Ability to deal effectively with persons of diverse backgrounds, personalities, and capabilities.
- Orientation consisting of approximately 8 hours classroom instruction and approximately 8 hours of shadowing. Orientation must be completed prior to CENA being assigned to GRHV.
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency and administrators at the Grand Rapids Home will continue to monitor contract compliance.
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