Regional health delegate Ana Cristina Guerreiro is calling on the Algarve’s unemployed young people to apply for jobs at the region’s understaffed care homes.
Over 200 active cases of Covid-19 have been detected at the region’s nursing homes, forcing many workers into self-isolation. Help is urgently needed; however, convincing young people to take up a caregiving job has not been an easy task.
Albeit “fulfilling” for the right candidate, “the job is hard and not very well-paid; and so it’s proving difficult to fill these positions,” the health delegate admitted.
This is not the first time that authorities have tried to recruit more staff for nursing homes since the start of the pandemic.
In August, Prime Minister António Costa took heat for suggesting nursing homes, day care centres and other social care establishments should start recruiting unemployed tourism workers (click here).
Some called it a “complete joke,” while others highlighted that the idea could only be pitched by someone who is “unaware” of the hardships involved in working in social care.
“Changing diapers, positioning sick patients in bed, being responsible for their hygiene… it is not easy,” João Ferreira de Almeida, from the Association of Home Care for Nursing Homes, said at the time.
“People are not aware of the work we do at nursing homes. It’s hard and sometimes even ‘violent’,” Ferreira added.
