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VA Rocky Hill CNA urges higher funding to address understaffing at veterans hospital
Summary
A certified nursing assistant said the Rocky Hill VA hospital is understaffed and urged the Appropriations Committee to increase funding to hire more CNAs and nurses and offer competitive wages to retain staff.
Sally Bell, a certified nursing assistant at the VA hospital in Rocky Hill, told the Appropriations Committee she has worked at the facility for 24 years and urged increased funding for veterans’ health care services.
Bell said staffing levels are insufficient: the hospital has four units with about 25 patients each and only 12 CNAs assigned, which she said leaves patients underserved when staffing fluctuations occur. “We need to pay these caregivers a competitive wage so that we can attract and retain them,” Bell said.
She asked the committee to increase funding to hire more CNAs and nurses and to make staffing flexible enough to respond to weather-related absences and other fluctuations. Bell said understaffing harms the veterans who receive care and appealed to lawmakers to act.
The hearing record does not show committee action on staffing levels or a formal appropriation at this session.
