MetroWest responds to nursing shortage.

A far-reaching nursing initiative is announced by the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation.
The campaign theme boldly states - "Nurse Power. Our Health Care Runs On It."

There's a scant supply of nursing professionals, and the shortage is reaching alarming proportions. Around the country, the media reports how the situation is affecting the care of patients at all levels. The MetroWest region is also affected by the nursing shortage — there are not enough nurse professionals to staff our health care institutions, and there are not enough people applying to nursing programs. According to the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation's Chair, Edna Smith RN, the problem is even deeper — "There's not enough awareness of nursing as a profession, of the rewards, the achievements and the unique potential for growth the career offers today."

The MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation was established to help fulfill the unmet health care needs of 25 greater Metro West communities. "Our Nurse Power initiative has two objectives — publicly recognizing the crucial contribution our nurses make to the health care of our communities, and inspiring more people, especially high school students, to consider nursing as an exciting professional choice," states Foundation CEO and president, Martin Cohen.

"From the beginning we decided we didn't just want to tell people nursing is a great career — and then leave them to their own resources," explains program director, Cathy Glover. "Obviously that route isn't working, so we needed to go further. We wanted to make it much easier to consider nursing by offering complete, easy to access information regarding career paths, different ways to achieve nursing degrees, options within the nursing field and, real people to call and to get answers."

The Foundation started the effort by putting together a task force that draws from several areas, including nursing educators, nursing professionals and health care managers. "The contribution of the members was crucial in making this effort a real community-based campaign that takes into account the unique socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural diversity of the region," comments Cohen.

According to Glover, the initiative will encompass a communication campaign across several media, including Internet and print. The kick-off will take place on May 7, to coincide with national Nurses' Week.

<<back to home