Healthcare Union 1199SEIU Launches Massive Nursing Home Reform Campaign

On the heels of the New York State Attorney General’s report that revealed that nursing homes with fewer staff had more COVID deaths, 1199SEIU, the largest healthcare union in the country, this week launched a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to reform the nursing home industry. The union supports legislation to hold nursing home owners accountable to ensure quality care for the state’s most vulnerable, and protections for the dedicated men and women who care for them.  

Union officials say the campaign, called Invest in Quality Care, is necessary now because the COVID-19 pandemic amplified chronic shortcomings in the nursing home industry, including inadequate infection control, insufficient hours of care, low wages, high turnover, reliance on per diem workers, profiteering and insufficient state oversight.

“We cannot simply return to pre-pandemic conditions of sub-standard care and low-quality jobs,” said Milly Silva, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU. “True comprehensive reform is needed to ensure that residents receive the highest levels of care, and that workers are able to remain safe and healthy as they tend to the residents they know and love. The state must ensure that the billions of taxpayer dollars being spent to provide care are actually being spent on quality care and not siphoned off as excessive profits.” Watch a video about the campaign here!