Give us the inside scoop
AARP wants to hear from people who live or work in nursing homes, and their families. Please use this link to contact us.

More than 30,000 Virginians live in nursing homes and deserve safe environments, but many facilities are dangerously understaffed. AARP is fighting to make sure nursing home residents receive safe, high-quality care by asking lawmakers to require facilities to have enough staff to take care of their residents.

Do you have a spouse, parent, sibling, friend, or other loved one that has been affected by staffing problems in a Virginia nursing home? Or do you or someone you know work in an understaffed nursing home? We want to hear from you.

Nearly 80% of Virginia nursing homes do not meet the U.S. Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) staffing recommendations that have been in place for over 20 years.

Yet, for nearly 20 years Virginia legislators have repeatedly rejected bills to set minimum nursing home staffing standards, despite 7 in 10 Virginia voters supporting such standards. Virginia now is one of only 12 states with no staffing standard.

Studies consistently have found that low staffing increases falls, pressure sores, spread of infections, life threatening dehydration, costly preventable hospital admissions, overuse of antipsychotic medications, and resident death.

AARP Virginia has joined Virginia Voices for Nursing Home Residents, a coalition of organizations and individuals who believe staffing standards is the first step to improving quality for nursing home residents.

For the 2023 legislative session, we are urging Virginia legislators to implement strong staffing standards with dedicated funding and accountability to protect Virginia’s nursing home residents and staff.

If you have a spouse, parent, sibling, friend, or other loved one that has been affected by staffing problems in a Virginia nursing home, or if you or someone you know works in an understaffed nursing home, we want to hear from you.

Tell us what’s happening, and how the problem has affected your family, so we can better fight for you.

Virginia voters want nursing home reform

With the coronavirus pandemic exposing problems in our long-term care system, strong majorities of Virginia voters support proposals that would improve the quality of care that nursing home residents receive, according to results of an AARP Virginia voter survey. 

AARP Virginia asked likely voters age 18 and older about their concerns about nursing home safety. The survey was conducted in August by the Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University.

Read the full survey here.

AARP wants to hear from people who have loved ones in nursing homes. Please use this link to contact us.