9/11/25
Human Resources Committee
Good morning. I know that you’re all tired of hearing me talk about the Director of Nursing position at the Adult Care Center, almost as tired as I am, but there have been new developments that I doubt you’ve heard about. Please bear with me.
The county’s DON position was posted on the county Human Services “Employment Opportunities” website as of late last month, but the position description has been altered significantly, without going through any committee. The minimum experience and requirements have been changed from 6 years to 2 years as a registered professional nurse, with one as a supervisor. The rewritten requirement exactly matches the experience of the current Director of Nursing at the ACC, who is now employed through an agency. The position has not been advertised. I can’t remember any specific incidents of a job description being dumbed down to fit that of a particular individual during my years of employment with the county. The required year of experience as a supervisor is a little misleading, since any RN working at the facility is already a supervisor of their subordinate nursing staff, and because there are no longer any Registered Nurses by that job title being employed or recruited by the county at the facility, only “Unit Leaders,” another job title and description change which happened some months ago, and which also did not go through any legislative approval process. That job description for Unit Leader is no longer on the website. I really don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to hire as many permanent RN positions as you could at the facility to stabilize the staffing and provide consistency of care for the residents, rather than a revolving door of strangers as it is now. I hope you are clear that RNs are not being recruited, only the four Unit Leaders, despite what the deputy county manager claimed in June’s executive meeting. How can she claim that the county is recruiting for a job title that no longer exists?
The changes to the DON position, which degrade the overall medical expertise and capability of a very important leadership position at the ACC, were written by the new Administrator. If you’ve taken a look at the ACC’s last two Surveys, which are public documents, you would find his loyalty to the incumbent as suspect as I do. Infinitecare’s justification is that it’s so very difficult to recruit qualified nurses. I think that the main problem really is that it’s difficult to recruit and then to retain RNs if you don’t give them the professional support, respect and competent nursing leadership which they need to perform their jobs. Certainly, more than a few experienced and more qualified RNs have left the facility recently. When the legislature voted in June not to allow LPNs as Unit Leaders, you sent an encouraging message to our nurses. It’s just so disappointing to watch the privatizing of the ACC by our consultant as it continues to progress behind your backs, because the manager’s office continues to follow the agenda of the previous legislature. It’s up to you to tell them to stop doing that.
I can’t imagine that NYSNA would have supported this downgrading and subversion of nursing positions, and I wonder if the salary of the county’s DON position has also been downgraded to match the new job requirements.
Thank you.