Health

DHS Continues To Struggle With Staff Shortages Following 2017 Hurricanes: 188 Vacancies Persist

The V.I. Department of Human Services is struggling with staff shortages caused, in part, by the loss employees after 2017 hurricanes.  The department is down 20 percent of its workforce, D.H.S. officials told lawmakers at a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, D.H.S. Commissioner-Designee Kimberley Causey-Gomez said staffing problems could jeopardize federal funding – and services to the territory’s most needy citizens.  “Our staff shortages directly impacts the service delivery in our programs and may potentially jeopardize federal funds,” she said.  On paper, D.H.S. has 865 employee positions. Mrs. Causey-Gomez said 188 of those positions are vacant. Many Virgin Islanders – including government employees – fled the devastated territory following Hurricanes Irma and Maria. That flow of residents and workforce to the mainland made worse the territory’s ongoing population decline of the past decade.  “We have struggled with local budget cuts and federal cuts (which) have caused ...