June 18, 2003 – The Senate Health, Hospitals and Human Services Committee will meet Thursday morning on St. Croix to resume its hearing on nurse recruitment and retention that was continued from May 21.
Of 18 individuals invited to testify at the May meeting, three did so. The others have been re-invited to provide input from the viewpoints of hospitals, senior citizen homes, correctional facilities, nurse recruiters, contract negotiators and professional agencies.
In a release issued Wednesday, Sen. Douglas E. Canton Jr., committee chair, said the territory's chronic shortage of nurses affects the whole community "but will most critically impact our population of aging baby boomers and our expanding senior citizen population."
Canton said his aim in inviting "a full complement of stakeholders to collectively weigh in on the issue" is so that they with the Senate's support "will design a nurse recruitment strategy that will result in policy initiatives and, as appropriate, legislation to support action toward the both short- and long-term progress."
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. in the Senate Conference Room in Frederiksted. For a list of those scheduled to testify, see the Legislative Calendar. Anyone else wishing to do so is asked to call Irma Santos at 712-2279 by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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