Essay
I chose the bill that allows minors 16 or 17 allowed to operate patient lifts in long-term care settings. There are many ways this could benefit the facilities, but there are some downfalls.
The first way this could benefit is that it would lower the workload for other employees. In most long-term care facilities, there are two CNA’s on a hallway. The state requires there to be one person over 18 to be working, along with either a minor or another adult. The adult is expected to run all lifts and hoyer lifts for their hall, while the minor helps those who are able to walk or are already up and ready. Since most elderly adults are losing strength and the ability to walk, it means that most residents would require a lift to stand up. So with the help of 16 and 17 year olds, both workers would be able to get everyone up and ready in an adequate amount of time.
In order to be a CNA, you have to be at least 16 years old, so if 16 and 17 year olds were able to run lifts, that means that anyone who is working as a CNA would be able to, because there would be no one under the age allowed to run a lift. This would help greatly because then there would be no arguments or confusion about who is responsible for what.
The last reason why this would help is to deal with the staffing issues that healthcare facilities face. For me it’s hard to find someone to take my shift when I need it because we have a lot of 16 and 17 year olds who can’t run lifts yet, so they are not able to work in my place.
One drawback of this bill would be that there are possible injuries that could occur, either for the workers or for the residents. Operating lifts requires physical strength, attentiveness, and skill, which younger CNAs might still be developing. Without proper supervision and thorough training, there's a chance that mistakes could happen, potentially resulting in harm to residents or CNAs themselves.
