Bonus $7 per hour proposed for night shift RNs at DeKalb County nursing home

SYCAMORE – Night shift nurses at the DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center could soon get $7 extra per hour, according to a proposal up for DeKalb County Board approval Wednesday.

The temporary pay bump is meant to encourage workers to remain employed through the county’s transition of the home to a private buyer in December, and will be in effect until Dec. 31 or the sale goes through, whichever comes first, county documents show. A $2 retention bonus was already approved for non-union nursing center employees in August.

The $7 pay bump proposal was brought forward by center administrator Bart Becker, county officials said this week. An original offer of an extra $4 per hour for registered nurses who work 10:45 p.m. to 7 a.m. was initially on the table. However, DeKalb County Board members of the board’s executive committee voted Wednesday to amend the proposed resolution to include $3 more.

Full board approval is needed still before the pay goes into effect. A vote is expected on the matter during the board’s full meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Legislative Center in Sycamore.

County Administrator Brian Gregory said Becker, who previously worked as the nursing center’s administrator from 2015 to 2018, is a good fit for the job.

“The time when he was here the census was at full capacity, there were waiting lists,” Gregory said.

The years between Becker’s stints on the job have seen financial turmoil at the facility, spurring the county board to vote 17-5 on July 20 to move forward with an $8.3 million sale to Evanston-based Illuminate HC, a private healthcare company which specializes in operating skilled nursing facilities.

In March of 2021, cash flow issues were raised by the DeKalb County Treasurer’s Office that Gregory said impacted the facility’s ability to make payroll responsibilities. In April 2021, the county board approved a $2 million loan to alleviate the cash flow issues; however, between then and May of this year, the county has spent $5.3 million keeping the facility solvent.

According to county documents, the county will spend $1.8 million between July and December of this year keeping the nursing home afloat as officials work to finalize the expected sale. The ownership change has brought months of pushback from employees of the facility, spurring many, including its former administrator Maggie Niemi, to resign.

Becker was hired in August.

“It’s great to be back in DeKalb and serve the county,” Becker said Wednesday.

Becker said he thinks the attitude inside the facility, from residents to staff, has changed for the better since he came back to the nursing center.

“It’s a real positive thing to see the residents,” Becker said. “The residents in my opinion are more at peace and happy and content. And the quality of care is going up and I feel that’s real important, obviously.”

Getting the facility away from relying on agency staff as been a goal of Becker’s, a necessity to keep up with staffing requirements but one that has plagued the county’s finances, officials have said, due to differing wages from agency staff to county staff.

Becker said since late August, he’s converted three agency staff to full-time county employees. Gregory attributed that feat to Bart’s leadership.

“He’s someone that is completely focused on doing what’s best for the DCRNC,” Gregory said. “And I think the entire team is working with him and that’s where some of the successes are coming from.”

Gregory said the county’s focus is on the center’s residents and employees.

“It might seem like a very small piece but it says that the effort is being put in to try to do everything we can to slow down the financial loses and make sure that the emphasis of our resources stay on our residents and our employees,” Gregory said.