Many municipalities are currently under so much pressure in the elderly care sector that they are resorting to unconventional methods to employ additional workers to care for the elderly.
There is a noticeable shortage of staff in many elderly care centers, and with the increasing number of coronavirus infections among both staff and citizens, the need for extra hands increases during the Christmas period.
For example, the municipality of Sorø called on the unemployed to help in nursing homes, while the municipality of Varde used Facebook to invite citizens to register to be ready to provide emergency social and health assistance. Following the municipality's Facebook post, 22 people signed up after reading the announcement.
In Faxe municipality, the mayor, Marianne Hoff Andersen, took a different approach. She went to the local high school in the municipality and, after obtaining the administration’s approval, entered the students’ classrooms with the aim of recruiting students to help care for the elderly. The following morning, 17 students applied to help with care in nursing homes, and after interviews, 14 young men and women were hired.
Since students and other job seekers and helpers are non-specialists, their role will be limited to tasks such as entertaining the elderly, helping with a little cleaning, putting food on the table, drinking some coffee with the elderly, or simply having a chat with them and listening to some stories from their lives.
In the municipality of Suru, there are currently 34 vacancies in the municipal nursing home, and therefore the director of social and health affairs fears that it may be necessary to cut some services to the elderly, and this may result in fewer cleaning services, for example.
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