Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health is offering bonuses to nurses who work extra shifts as employees are overwhelmed amid the latest COVID-19 wave, CBS affiliate WINK reported Aug. 11.
Lee Health, one of the nation's largest public health systems, announced the bonus incentives in an email to staff.
The email stated, "We understand you are tired, weary and have been working incredibly hard, but unfortunately, we are not out of the woods yet," according to WINK.
Armando Llechu, chief officer of hospital operations and women and children's services at Lee Health, told the news station a registered nurse who works one extra shift per week for 12 weeks could earn a $6,000 bonus. A $3,000 bonus is being offered over 12 weeks for one extra shift per two-week pay period.
"When you consider that we have thousands of nurses, if just 500 of them agreed to pick up one extra [shift] per week for the next 12 weeks, the number of patients that we could care for grows exponentially," Mr. Llechu told WINK.
The bonuses come as Florida recorded the highest daily average COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the U.S. as of Aug. 12, per The New York Times.
At Lee Health, there were 492 COVID-19 patients in health system hospitals as of Aug. 11, compared to the organization's peak last year of 372 COVID-19 positive patients admitted, according to Mr. Llechu.
Read WINK's full report here.