Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking the Florida Legislature to fund 48 more positions at the Ardie R. Copas State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Tradition.
“The Copas home is scheduled to have about 145 employees,” said Steve Murray, communications director at the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs (FDVA).
The FDVA has announced for about the last three months it will open Copas sometime next summer, just about two years since construction began with clearing work in June 2018. The workers will be state employees. The Florida Department of Veteran Affairs is not affiliated with the federal Department of Veteran Affairs, although the latter is funding 65 percent of the construction costs. The FDVA does not use private contractors to staff its veterans nursing homes.
The governor, who released his proposed 2020-2021 budget on Nov. 18, is asking the legislature for $6.1 million to fund the 48 positions. The legislature has already funded the remaining positions in this and previous years’ budgets.
Murray said hiring for Copas will start in January. The state will first hire the administrator, the maintenance supervisor, the human resources director and the admissions coordinator. After that, hiring for nursing and support jobs will start. Murray estimated that could come as early as February or March, but could also start later. Hiring the initial workers will be in phases and could last until fall. When filled, the Copas State Veterans’ Nursing Home will have up to 120 patents.
“It’s a phased opening,” Murray said. “The doors open and you have your administrators in there and some nursing staff. Each week you bring in a couple more (patients and staff), a couple more.”
The state’s current six veteran nursing homes opened between 1993 and 2010. Because of differences in designs, equipment and nursing best practices over those years, each home filled up at different rates. They average 150 workers each.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take this time,” Murray said. “Typically it’s two or three months.”
The state prefers to hire state veteran nursing home workers who already live locally. “We want local people who are qualified obviously,” he said. Some positions, such as the nursing home director, are more difficult to fill locally. “That’s a finite pool of people with those qualifications and skills,” Murray said.
Strong employment in Florida is a problem, too. State Sen. Gayle Harrell, who represents St. Lucie County, asked Daniel “Danny” Burgess Jr., the executive director of the FDVA, whether there’s a nursing shortage Copas will face when it opens. That was at the inaugural meeting of the Florida Senate Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs and Space for the 2020 legislative session in October.
“We have a big shortage of nurses,” she said at the Tallahassee meeting.
“The salaries that we’re offering seem to be not competitive in our local arena. How are we addressing that? And do you have any suggestions of what we need to do legislatively to address that?”
Burgess was blunt.
“It is real,” he replied to Harrell. “There is definitely an issue with retention and recruitment (of nurses to work at state veterans homes). Because in the private sector you have strong competition; you have bonuses you’re competing with.”
Nevertheless, Burgess dissuaded the committee from considering substantially increasing pay rates at the veterans homes. He said the state veterans department is trying various attraction and retention programs and wants to see if they’re effective before increasing budgets.
In total, the governor’s proposed 2020-2021 budget is $91.4 billion, up from $90.9 billion this fiscal year. The state’s fiscal year runs from July to June. The proposed budget would increase positions for state workers by 549. Of those, 109 are at the FDVA. The state veterans department has 1,411 fulltime equivalents. Under the proposed budget that would increase to 1,520.
Hiring information is posted at www.floridavets.org.
