Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20201103

A28 u.s. news
Diamars 3 November 2020

Hospitals competing for nurses as US coronavirus cases surge

(AP) — As the corona- Paso, Texas.
virus pandemic surges Now placing nurses where
across the nation and in- they're needed is “like a giant
fections and hospitaliza- game of whack-a-mole,” said
tions rise, medical admin- Hansen, whose company has
istrators are scrambling to about 20,000 openings for
find enough nursing help contract nurses.
— especially in rural areas
and at small hospitals. In North Dakota, where in-
fection rates are exploding,
Nurses are being trained to hospitals may cut back on
provide care in fields where elective surgeries and seek
they have limited experience. government aid to hire more
Hospitals are scaling back nurses if things get worse,
services to ensure enough North Dakota Hospital As-
staff to handle critically ill pa- sociation president Tim Blasl
tients. And health systems are said.
turning to short-term travel
nurses to help fill the gaps. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott
recently announced he was
Adding to the strain, experi- sending 75 nurses and respi-
enced nurses are "burned out ratory therapists to El Paso to
with this whole (pandemic)” help handle the city's surge.
and some are quitting, said Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers,
Kevin Fitzpatrick, an emer- meanwhile, issued emer-
gency room nurse at Hur- gency orders making it easier
ley Medical Center in Flint, for nurses from elsewhere to
Michigan, where several left virus cases surpassing 9 mil- said Ruth Risley-Gray, senior ing just about everywhere in practice in his state and for
just in the past month to lion in the U.S. and new daily vice president and chief nurs- the country, hospitals nation- retired nurses to come back.
work in hospice or home care infections rising in 47 states, ing officer at Aspirus. wide are competing for the
or at outpatient clinics. the need is only increasing. same pool of nurses, offer- “This has been a challenge,
Outside help still is needed, ing pay ranging from $1,500 and we've been pleading with
“And replacing them is not Wausau, Wisconsin-based in part because some nurses a week to more than $5,000, the community members to
easy," Fitzpatrick said. Aspirus Health Care is offer- have gotten sick from or said April Hansen, executive protect themselves and oth-
As a result, he said, the ER is ing $15,000 signing bonuses were exposed to the cor- vice president at San Diego- ers,” by wearing masks and
operating at about five nurses for nurses with at least a year navirus during the current based Aya Healthcare, which social distancing, said Aspi-
short of its optimal level at of experience and hiring con- wave, which “came with a recruits and deploys travel rus' Risley-Gray, who said
any given time, and each one tract nurses through private vengeance” starting in Au- nurses. the positivity rate among
typically cares for four pa- staffing companies to handle gust, Risley-Gray said. At one community members tested
tients as COVID-19 hospi- a surge in hospitalizations point in mid-October, 215 She said demand for their ser- by Aspirus rose from under
talizations surge anew. Hos- that prompted the system to staffers were in isolation after vices has more than doubled 10% in September to 24% last
pital officials did not respond almost quadruple the num- showing symptoms or be- since early in the pandemic week.
to requests for comment. ber of beds dedicated to CO- ing exposed to someone who when the greatest need was
VID-19 patients. tested positive, and some in hot spots like New York To combat the emotional
But the departures are not are just starting to return to and New Jersey and then toll and fatigue that comes
surprising, according to ex- Aspirus, which operates five work. moved to southern states. In with caring for COVID-19
perts, considering not only hospitals in Wisconsin and recent weeks the virus has patients, including just don-
the mental toll but the fact four in small communities in Aspirus recently was able to been spiking across the coun- ning and removing protec-
that many nurses trained in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, hire 18 nurses from outside try, with the new hot spots tive equipment all day, As-
acute care are over 50 and at also is moving nurses around agencies, and may need more in places like the rural upper pirus has been giving nurses
increased risk of complica- between departments and fa- if the surge continues. Be- Midwest and southern-bor- microbreaks and quiet places
tions if they contract COV- cilities as hot spots emerge, cause the pandemic is surg- der communities such as El to get away and collect them-
ID-19, while younger nurses selves when they feel over-
often have children or other whelmed.
family to worry about.
Travel nurses say the need at
“Who can actually work and small hospitals tends to be
who feels safe working are greater than at larger facili-
limited by family obligations ties.
to protect their own health,” Robert Gardner, who's cur-
said Karen Donelan, profes- rently assigned to a hospi-
sor of U.S. health policy at tal in a small town about 20
Brandeis University’s Heller miles west of Atlanta, said he
School for Social Policy and did search and rescue in the
Management. “All of those Coast Guard during Hur-
things have been factors.” ricane Katrina and the pan-
demic is “a lot worse.” He
Donelan said there is little worked at a large New Jersey
data so far on how the pan- hospital when that state was
demic, which has killed more swamped by the virus in the
than 231,000 people in the spring, and now worries that
country, is affecting nursing flu season could bring fur-
overall. But some hospitals ther chaos to hospitals. But
had a shortage even before he's determined to stick it
the virus took hold, despite a out, no matter what.
national rise in the number of “It’s not even a question,”
nurses over the past decade. Gardner said. “Nursing is a
With total confirmed corona- calling.”