From the desk of Jeff Cohen: Kline Galland’s Annual Impact Report
March 23, 2022 | From the CEO
As we enter into a new, much more hopeful and optimistic phase of the pandemic, I’d like to report on Kline Galland’s current outlook and highlight the incredible impact that the support of our community has had on our organization’s ability to navigate COVID-19.
We are relieved to say that COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots have made an immense impact on the safety of our residents, staff, and families. During the latest surge in cases, all of our patients and staff who tested positive made full recoveries. We are confident that Kline Galland’s 100% vaccination rate (the highest in the state) contributed to our recovery and prevented the loss of life. The decline in cases over the past month allowed us to get our footing back as we disassembled our COVID-19 unit at the Kline Galland Home and reopened visitation to family and loved ones. Our census numbers are back to normal now as we are able to admit normally after the spike in cases.
Financially, COVID-19 has made a measurable impact on Kline Galland. Over the past two years, Kline Galland has spent $3.6 million covering the cost of PPE, testing, and staff retention efforts. This amount is in addition to the losses we incurred from halting admissions due to COVID-19, which we estimate to be close to $4.9 million.
Broadly speaking, senior care is in a tenuous position with challenges in staffing, rising costs, flat reimbursements, and unexpected challenges such as COVID-19. In the last four years alone in Washington State, there have been 26 closures of Skilled Nursing Facilities. Numerous Jewish faith-based homes around the country have closed their skilled nursing facilities. These closures should also give us pause for concern, because in 2020, 14.6% of the population in King County was 65+. In 2030, the percentage 65+ is estimated to be 18.3%.
For 2022, our biggest challenge will be retention of staff. Many health care workers are feeling the effects of navigating a global pandemic for the past two years. With the growing demand for senior care, it is imperative that we have the foresight and management to nurture, develop and invest in our staff through raises, bonuses, and other retention efforts such as continuing education.
This will keep Kline Galland a place to have a long-lasting, happy career making a difference every single day.
We survived COVID-19 because of our diversification of services and our high-quality care—both helped tremendously by philanthropic support of our kind-hearted supporters. In this challenging time, we are committed to being the single-source senior care resource for our community.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey D. Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
