Health care recruiter sounds alarm bells about lack of registered health workers in region

Sarah Cadorette, co-owner of staffing solution company Plan A, says that long-term care facilities in Quinte need their services due to the region’s combination of an aging population and a dire staff situation. Photo by Allen Steinberg, QNet News

By Allen Steinberg

KINGSTON – Long-term care homes in the Quinte region are experiencing a significant shortage of registered staff, says Plan A Kingston and Quinte co-owner Sarah Cadorette.

Plan A, a staffing and recruitment company focused on supplying long-term care homes with registered personnel, expanded its company into Quinte West and surrounding areas about six months ago due to the lack of staff in local long-term care facilities.

“There’s a huge crisis happening,” said Cadorette. “There’s a huge shortage of registered staff. That’s why Plan A brought the franchise to Quinte.”

Cadorette says the company started in Sudbury nine years ago when the Ontario-wide crisis began. Now, the company is the fastest growing staffing solution organization in Canada. It has built its brand on combatting staffing shortages in long-term care facilities by supplying them with registered and registered practising nurses and personal support workers in a flexible way that most homes do not currently offer.

“What’s different about us is that workers can fit us around their other jobs, part-time jobs, vacation and school. We hire anyone from moms and dads, semi-retired people, to first-year nursing students,” said Cadorette. Our workers are all on their own unique agenda, but we hire enough people so that the gaps are filled. It’s really nice and flexible that way.”

According to Cadorette, Plan A’s pay rates and true flexibility amongst its workers have already decreased Quinte’s staffing shortages.

“It’s easy for people to overlook small communities like Quinte. Often, it’s these small communities that are more in need. With Quinte’s aging population, great rates of pay for new hires and flexible schedules are key in drawing people to work for us, Cadorette said. We already have a 75 per cent shift-fill rate in both homes we work with in the area.” When asked to name the homes Plan A works with in Quinte, Cadorette said that information is confidential.

Cadorette says that the company’s expansion into Quinte was long overdue, with many residents being stuck in less-than-ideal situations due to staffing and space in long-term care centres.

“We have residents that need care that are even in hospital settings or are at home because there isn’t the real ability for them to move into the long-term care facilities. I know that government-wise, they’re trying to open more facilities and have more beds available to those in need,” said Cadorette. “On our end, we’re trying to staff these homes as much as possible.”

QNet News called Belmont Long-Term Care Facility for a word on the matter at hand. When asked about the staffing problems at local facilities, the secretary quickly said “We are struggling.”

In October of last year, Hastings Manor director Debbie Rollins addressed the issue at a county council meeting, saying that the lack of staff in long-term care homes is overworking personnel, drawing workers away from the field.

“It’s putting great demand on the staff. It’s actually making it harder to attract people to work in long-term care facilities,” Rollins told council at the time.