Healthcare crisis/Nursing Shortage
I am a small business owner in the Healthcare Industry (Professional Staffing Network Inc), more specifically a Nursing/Healthcare staffing agency that has been in existence for 30 plus years. The niche of the Healthcare industry that PSN services has been devastatingly impacted by the current health crisis due to loss of multiple contracts, so we restructured and expanded into the Clinical arena i.e. providing registered nurses and other healthcare providers to hospitals, and with this, have hit a major road block that is not only unique to PSN. We are unable to source nurses. The jobs are there in abundance but as nurses contact us inquiring of jobs they are looking for anything but "bedside" jobs, we are hearing the common cry of "fatigue." When I graduated from Nursing School back in 1990 there was a nursing shortage, to my knowledge without providing factual data, we have been never out of that status. I decided to reach out to an immigration lawyer, the thought was, maybe we could temporarily contract nurses from Australia, Europe, etc. however, I was surprised to find out that in spite of our present crisis it takes 18 months to secure a work permit for foreign registered nurses. This morning I am pleading and petitioning for an emergency Act for a quicker process for securing temporary work permits for foreign Registered Nurses to support us thru this crisis. I plead on behalf of patients, families, and small struggling companies like PSN.
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