Nursing homes, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, must maintain enough nursing staff to provide nursing care, and related services, to their residents to maintain the residents’ physical, mental, and social well-being.

In facilities across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, front-line workers make-up the primary healthcare personnel responsible for delivering that care and service to the resident. Those workers include, at a minimum, certified nursing assistants (CNA) and licensed practical nurses (LPN): They are, undoubtedly, the most important resource that a nursing-home facility can provide to ensure that elderly residents receive quality care.

But recently, more than fifty front-line workers picketed outside the Castle Hill nursing home in Union City and the Harborview nursing-home in Jersey City, because, among other things, they are upset that those facilities have failed to provide enough personnel to deliver quality care to the residents: In other words, the workers believe that those facilities—which are owned and operated by Alaris Health—have been operating in a way that endangers the residents’ well-being.

Facilities, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that fail to provide enough nursing personnel for delivering quality care, knowingly place residents at risk for neglect and abuse. For example, understaffing can impair a facility’s ability to deliver critical and labor intensive nursing care such as frequent and regular turning and repositioning residents to prevent debilitating pressure ulcers from developing.

And indeed, recently, a front-line worker of the Castle Hill nursing-home in Jersey City stated that “caring for 13 people at one time is just too much.” Furthermore, the Castle Hill and Union City nursing-homes front-line workers believe that Alaris Health is waging “an aggressive campaign against workers” during a time when “the current staffing levels are below state and national average.”

No one ever expects a family member or friend to endure neglect or abuse in a nursing home. However, despite federal and state regulations, nursing-home residents often suffer the negative effects stemming from nursing-home facilities that violate those regulations.

When someone you care about has endured nursing-home negligence or abuse, the problems can seem overwhelming. Stark & Stark’s Nursing Home Litigation Group will advise you of your loved one’s legal rights, and will aggressively prosecute a claim whenever our investigation reveals any instances of negligence or abuse.