Stanislaus County Approves Pay Raises for Nurses, Psychiatric Staff
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to pay nearly $1 million for wage raises, retention incentives, recruitment efforts and additional salaries for licensed vocational nurses and other psychiatric staff at the county Behavioral Health Center, the Modesto Bee reports. The facility must meet a state requirement to have one licensed nurse on duty for every six patients at all times by Jan. 1. Based on current staff levels, the facility needs to hire 19 full-time and 15 part-time nurses to fulfill the requirement. Center officials say that its salaries, which are the lowest among area hospitals, have made recruitment difficult. The approved funds would be used to:
- Increase LVNs' salaries by 20%;
- Raise the differential paid to psychiatric nurses in the inpatient unit by 15%;
- Increase part-time psychiatric nurses' pay by 30% in lieu of providing benefits; and
- Provide $5,000 bonuses to newly hired nurses who stay at the facility for one year.