Fixing the Crisis in California’s Nursing Homes

Normally, Robert Oronia works overnights, from 11 p.m. to 7 the next morning. But lately the certified nursing assistant (CNA) has been logging a lot of 12-hour shifts at Stoney Point Healthcare Center in Chatsworth. He says he could work back-to-back shifts, 16 straight hours, if he wanted, because the need for staffing is there. Some of his colleagues do that. “But I don’t,” Oronia says, “because that’s when accidents happen.”