By Per Peterson
Prairie View Senior Living has welcomed three new members who are filling a major staffing need.
The senior living facility has recently added a new director of nursing, Andrea Brooks; a director of nursing coordinator, Kimberly Seaton; and social service director Nikki Hinrichs.
The addition of three new employees is a blessing for Director Brian Hinrichs, as hiring has become increasingly difficult the last few years, partly because of the pandemic.
“It’s been getting progressively worse, but luckily we still have not had the crunch like many other buildings have — the severe shortage,” said Hinrichs. “It’s normal these days, unfortunately. When I started eight years ago, applicants were pretty common — you always had one or two sitting out there.”
Hinrichs appreciates the dedicated employees at Prairie View who continue to work through a pandemic that to this day affects the facility.
“We have good staff here — two COVID outbreaks and they’ve stuck through it,” he said. “COVID has made hiring tougher though. Andrea has a lot of experience as director of nursing, Kim’s had a lot of experience in nursing, and Nikki’s worked in long-term care since the 90s, so she’s got a lot of experience in nursing, too.”
Prairie View currently has 63 employees, including the three new hires who are filling positions that have been open for months:
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