ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The health care industry continues to deal with a worker shortage, one that is now compounded by a vaccine mandate. 

One part of the of health care industry is not yet mandated to get the COVID vaccine, but still struggling to find employees. 

Karen Balch lives at a DePaul Properties-owned building in Rochester. The nonprofit organization has been in Rochester for more than 60 years, and has focused on providing housing for people with special needs – ranging from addiction to mental illness.

“I have the privileges of living my own, but there is also a great team of people that when I’m having a bad day, when some of my personal symptoms are rearing their head beyond what I can control, I can get ahold of them 24/7 by coming down a few floors in the building and have someone to talk to,” Balch said.

Balch, who spends time journaling, is one of the many residents there receiving on-site services.

“So really, what our staff’s role is to know resources in the community and assist them to access those services in the community, which will then help them prevent homelessness and live as independently as possible as long as possible,” DePaul Properties Vice President Gillian Conde said.

Conde says the biggest problem facing the organization now is a staffing shortage.

“Well, one of the things difficult in mental health housing specifically is of course wages,” Conde said. “And that’s our biggest challenge, is to get people in the door because wages continue to be low.”

Like much of the rest of the health care industry, DePaul was already short staffed heading into the pandemic, followed by COVID shutdowns and then unemployment payments. And now the mental health industry is preparing to be added, possibly, to the vaccine mandate list.

“And what ends up happening is that you end having staff that are committed exhausted and tired,” Conde said. “And so the more that we can bring in new people to help offset that, the better.”

Balch offers her own job description for anyone considering working at DePaul.

“From my angle, your personality is a lot of what matters,” she said. “And if you have a heart to truly help people, that’s all you need.  You’ve got to have the paperwork skills that any business like this would have, but we don’t expect you to be moving mountains, just be there walking along side of us as we face them.”

Conde encourages people to consider not-for-profit work – which she describes as meaningful and fulfilling.