Families tell Senate committee nursing shortages threaten care at Arkansas Human Development Centers

Parents and guardians of residents at Arkansas's Human Development Centers told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that staffing shortages for RNs and LPNs have persisted and are threatening continuity of care.

"My son is non verbal and functions on the level of a young toddler," said Carol Sherman, mother and guardian of John, a resident at the Arkadelphia Human Development Center, describing her son's dependence on trained staff. Sherman said three of the five HDCs have struggled for about nine months to hire enough nursing staff and that centers must hire contract nurses at rates she cited as "RNs for $70–$80 an hour" and "LPNs for $51 per hour," which she said blows holes in operating budgets and harms staff morale.

Committee members heard similar accounts from Katrina Robertson, parent and guardian of a Booneville HDC resident, and Kimberly Dodd, whose son moved from the Southeast Arkansas HDC to Arkadelphia. Robertson described her family's crises before placement and called the HDC "a godsend," while Dodd said HDC staff produced dramatic behavioral and safety improvements for her son.

Janet Mann, Medicaid director for the Department of Human Services, and Melissa Weatherton, director of Medicaid Specialty Populations, updated the committee on agency steps to address recruitment. Mann said the agency has implemented career ladders and a geographic pay differential of 10 percent in hard-to-staff locations, which has reduced some vacancies, and that DHS will present a proposed salary increase for both LPNs and registered nurses to the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) in June with a hoped-for July 1 start date.

Mann cautioned that changes to state nurse pay affect many agencies because state nurse pay scales are interrelated; she said DHS has been working with the Office of Personnel Management and other state agencies to develop a formula that could be applied across programs. Committee members pressed DHS for written details and asked whether alternative licensure or new direct-care nurse categories were being considered; Mann said DHS is discussing a possible "direct care state nurse" designation with OPM.

The committee did not take immediate action on the staffing requests. Several legislators thanked the witnesses and asked DHS to return with firm fiscal numbers and the proposed ALC submission.

The Committee moved on after hearing testimony; next procedural steps were not decided during the meeting.