(ABC 6 News) – Minnesota State Senator Liz Boldon (25, DFL) and the Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (64, DFL) visited local healthcare providers to hear from the community what issues they should consider before next year’s state budget talks.

Two facilities were highlighted on this tour – Samaritan Bethany Senior Living and Fernbrook Family Center.

Both function in niche spaces of the healthcare industry, and both have found themselves in tight spots over the years.

Fernbrook provides mental health resources and in-home therapy for high risk cases among youth and adults across southern Minnesota.

They say funding and staffing have been some of the biggest challenges over the years.

“This is a field that does not have a reputation for being well-funded,” said David Sabotta, one of Fernbrook’s clinical training specialists. He also teaches in the graduate level psychology program at St. Mary’s University.

“So when you are asking people to sign up for a Master’s degree and all those student loans and years of education, it’s hard work,” he said.

Those over at Samaritan Bethany feel similarly, though their issues take a different form.

Where Fernbrook’s staffing troubles are the result of more work than they can take on, it isn’t that Samaritan Bethany’s facilities are overflowing with residents but rather a lack of staffing needed to expand.

“Knowing that the senior population is growing rapidly,” said the organizations co-mission and community leader, Kyla Berg, “and knowing that we have over 20,000 vacant positions in nursing services and nursing homes, I think it’s crucial to continue that support for the caregivers and seniors in Minnesota.”

During the tour, the senators heard from residents, staff, caregivers, and many others about the experiences they had working in the healthcare system.

“Many of them mentioned how much they love it here,” Sen. Boldon said following their conversation with residents of Samaritan Bethany, “and spoke about how important it is that they have staff that want to be here and care about them and so that relationship is really important.”

They also heard about the needs organizations like these have and the maintenance required at the state level to keep that going.

“That’s what I think we need to focus on,” said Sen. Murphy. “We need to make sure the dollars that we’re investing, whether they’re state or federal dollars, are going into the care of people.”

With next year’s legislative session focusing heavily on the state’s budget, it’s that maintenance these organizations want the senators to keep in mind.

“It’s hard to get people to take something seriously before it’s a crisis,” said Sabotta. “Well, it’s getting to be a crisis right now so it’s time to do something about it.”