Haines Assisted Living is increasing its base wage to $20 per hour, a $3 per hour increase, in an effort to attract at least two new employees.

While worker shortages in the service industry have become a common news story across the nation and in Haines, a worker shortage at Haines Assisted Living (HAL) is making it difficult for its residents to enjoy their former quality of life and for its workers to keep up.

Beginning in mid-June, a combination of worker shortages and employees getting sick with covid or other medical issues meant that sometimes only one employee was able to care for the five residents currently living at HAL.

HAL resident Doris Peck, 93, said one of her neighbors suffers from dementia and often wanders the facility. Other residents might need help getting out of bed, or taking a shower, she said.

“If there was a little more help, it would make things easier,” said Peck, who’s been unable to attend church on Sunday mornings because there’s not a second employee on duty who can take her. “We need more. If we had more, there’s more that could be accomplished. The staff would be more relaxed. They wouldn’t have to be running around.”

HAL board member Shannon McPhetres said the worker shortage is hard not only on the residents, but on the current employees as well. “It’s not like we can close for lunch. If we have a staff shortage, we can’t close,” HAL board member Shannon McPhetres said. “It puts pressure on everyone.”

Ideally, HAL has two employees on duty during most of the day, but caretaker Dori Getchell said it’s been difficult to provide even basic care when only a single person is on duty during early morning, late evening and night shifts. She’s had to call her coworkers from home to help. “I need another person because somebody fell or somebody needs a shower and I can’t provide that care because there’s only one of me,” Getchell said.

She said before HAL became short staffed, employees could provide a quality of life beyond the basic necessities, which is the mission of the assisted living facility.

“We’d play bingo. We did watercolor. We had parties. We had activities that you can’t do when you’re short staffed because you have to make sure their other needs are met,” Getchell said. “I have to make sure I help someone get to bed rather than go watercolor with someone, but those are equally important.”

HAL administrator Christy Long began working 10-hour days, seven days a week to cover the bases. Long took over as administrator this year. She said another challenge HAL faces is declining revenue. In the last year, the assisted living facility has taken on more residents who are on Medicaid, which doesn’t cover the costs HAL incurs. Gov. Michael Dunleavy and the legislature have cut state Medicaid spending in recent years.

HAL board members and Hospice of Haines volunteers like McPhetres have also pitched in to keep things going. She said the current client base is different from when HAL started when its residents largely paid out of their own pocket. The basic monthly rental rate at HAL is $1,500, which Medicaid doesn’t cover. Nor does Medicaid cover advanced care levels, which most of the residents, who are mostly now in their 90s, require.

“All that Medicaid pays for is the services,” McPhetres said. “There were a lot more self-paid people who came in quite early, in their late 80s. We have a clientele right now that’s all in their 90s and if you look at town there’s a lot of people who may not be able to self-pay. But now, having more Medicaid clients might mean we’re providing more care, but we’re not being paid more.”

HAL was conceptualized and largely funded by Lucy Harrell, who died in the place she helped build. Finished in 2009, the assisted living facility would provide, in Harrell’s words, a place for her to live during “the last years of my life.”

“I would rather die than live in one of the cardboard anthill-like ‘golden years’ senior retirement communities in the Lower 48. I want to stay in Haines. I want to keep my freedom to come and go as long as I am able. I love the scenery. I love my friends. I love the activities that one can enjoy here,” Harrell wrote of HAL. “I want to be safe, warm, and comfortable, and have a life of the mind as long as I have a mind.”

Harrell left a large part of her estate to HAL, but the board is becoming concerned about HAL’s longevity, especially if it can’t keep enough staff to ensure the facility is at its 10-resident capacity. The facility was home to only two residents at the end of 2021. Now they have five. In order to fill its capacity, they need more employees who will commit to what Getchell said is a challenging, but rewarding job.

Getchell said the connections she makes with HAL residents is what makes taking care of them feel like more than just a job, and gives her a reason to come to work beyond a paycheck.

“Since you do spend so much time with them it’s really hard when you work with these people every day. They are older. They get sick. You start to see them decline and that’s really, really hard,” Getchell said. “You get so connected to each resident and their family. That’s another really beautiful part of the job. You do get connected. You feel like you’re able to serve some of their last experiences on earth.”

HAL is competing with businesses across town for workers. There are more than 20 jobs listed in the CVN’s classified section alone. McPhetres said despite HAL’s help wanted ads in the newspaper, on social media and flyers across town, there’s been little interest from potential employees.

“The people we’ve talked to, most of them aren’t interested and don’t seem to know anybody who’s interested in working,” she said. “We’re at a loss.”

On Tuesday, Long prepared a ham sandwich for Peck’s lunch because the facility lacks a cook. Peck told the CVN she was grateful for her sandwich, and her caregivers. Still, she stressed, they need more help.

“I think we need more help and volunteers so all the bases are covered,” she said. “It is like a running, big wheel that never stops,” Peck said. “There’s something that needs to be done for somebody. I get good attention when I need it and I’m thankful. It may not come real fast, but I get it. If I’m patient, I can wait and get what I need.”

Those interested in a job, or volunteering, can call HAL at 766-3616.