Pictured is Heritage Village, one of the nursing homes run by Heritage Ministries, who is currently continuing to have financial and staffing problems. P-J file photo

Nursing homes and care facilities across the country are continuing to struggle as they face both financial difficulties and ongoing staffing shortages.

Heritage Ministries has been implementing some cost-saving changes over the past few months in order to try and help some of that and keep their doors open.

Recently, Heritage Ministries has stopped offering employees holiday pay, along with temporarily pausing their 401K matching contribution, eliminating double-time pay for per diem employees, and has implemented a temporary furlough program, allowing employees to take time off for approximately two weeks without pay voluntarily, but also with the promise that it is not a layoff or will not affect things such as promotions or employment status in the future.

Lisa Haglund, Heritage president and CEO, said Heritage’s current troubles come from “a little bit of everything”, including federal and state funding cuts and legacy debt from before the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the ongoing rise of costs and inflation. She noted that Heritage offers significant paid time off for employees, with most being offered ten to 20 days along with paid holidays. The implementation of both the paid holiday reduction and voluntary temporary furlough program should save the organization around $100,000 from each decision for the year, she added.

“Our goal is to maintain our employee base, and we should see more state and federal incentives coming our way,” Haglund said. “The workforce in Chautauqua County is also decreasing, which is also contributing to our staffing shortage. It’s already extremely hard to maintain a healthcare workforce.”

Haglund added that in 2010 there were nine and a half working age adults for every two aged 70 or older. These days, she said there are less than two workers for every two aged 70 or older, with that number anticipated to continue to decrease.

She added that Heritage is able to still offer competitive benefits, but have to do what they can to stay relevant and open, citing the closing of the Lutheran Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Program back at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024.

According to Heritage Ministries’ 990 Tax Forms from 2023, the organization employed 117 people in 2023 with salaries, other compensations and employee benefits totaling $6,831,061.

Haglund said work is continuing to be done to stabilize the organization’s legacy debt and they are also attempting work on their long term lending debt, and looking into new programs and new revenue streams. They are continuing to work to offer support to the hospital and community and enhance their programming there as well. Heritage will continue to offer a competitive vacation time, which Haglund noted most other programs do not offer as much vacation time as them.

Heritage Ministries has an upcoming fundraising event partnering with Southern Tier Brewery on Nov. 7, which Haglund said the public is welcome to attend and come to support the seniors and health care industry of the county. Additionally, she said Heritage’s five-year vision is to be less reliant on funding like medicaid and to become more self-sufficient, but she said it is hard work to get there and that they could use all the help and support from the community that they can get.

“We’re always looking for more full-time and part-time employees,” Haglund said. “We serve the greatest generation; these are our parents and grandparents. We need everyone’s help to stay open and continue to serve them and do the work that we do.”

For more information on Heritage Ministries, visit heritage1886.org.