Improvements at Grafton County Nursing Home Amidst COVID-19 Challenges

After struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic with staffing shortages and low Medicaid reimbursement rates, some measures to overcome the challenges have put the Grafton County Nursing Home in North Haverhill on a sunnier path. To address the staffing shortage and reduce the high cost of enlisting contract nurses, the county commission previously authorized a flat increase of $6 per hour across all licensed nursing positions in the nursing department, including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and licensed nursing assistants. The effort has borne fruit. “At our low point, we had 39 licensed nursing assistant FTE [full-time equivalent] openings,” Craig Labore, administrator for the Grafton County Nursing Home, said Friday. Utilizing contracted nursing services to fill those positions was quite costly last year. Being able to get that targeted wage increase for the nursing department has certainly turned things in a more positive direction.” The GCNH is currently at 28 FTE LNA positions, equating to about a 25 percent reduction in openings.