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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBRUARY 26, 2003
Baca Reintroduces Bill to Address Critical Shortage of Nurses WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Joe Baca (D-Rialto) today reintroduced legislation aimed at promoting nursing as a career to segments of the population currently underrepresented in the profession. The Diversity in Nursing Act would provide funding for scholarships for people who would not normally consider nursing as a profession. Recipients who agree to work in health care facilities experiencing a nursing shortage crisis would receive the funds in exchange for two years of service. "I'm reintroducing this bill because of the widespread support it received last year," Baca said. "The California and American Nurses Associations supported the bill, and I'm confident that the bill will continue to gain support and become law during the 108th Congress." "Nurses are leaving the profession and new nurses are not being trained and hired. This is having a devastating effect on the nurses who choose to remain in the profession and on the quality of healthcare that the people in our community receive. Hospitals in our area are having trouble finding nurses to provide the care that their patients require, and local nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities are having trouble caring for our seniors in the manner that they deserve. We need to act now." The United States is experiencing a critical nursing shortage. The average age of nurses is 43, and fewer and fewer students are choosing nursing school as they enter college. Males, Latinos, African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Asian-Americans are underrepresented in the nursing profession, even though they make up increasingly large percentages of the workforce. The bill aims to bring more minorities and men into the nursing profession. It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to institute a scholarship program for college students who are considering nursing as a course of undergraduate study. Only 25 percent of the scholarships would be available for nurses seeking post-graduate degrees because providing most of the aid to persons who have already chosen nursing as a profession would defeat the purpose of the bill. The bill would also provide funds for the marketing of the nursing profession to underrepresented segments of the population by various healthcare organizations. "This is an education bill that will create more educational opportunities both in our Inland Empire community and across America," Baca said. "Our local schools are very diverse, and many of our students would benefit greatly from readily-available information about nursing and scholarships to help them achieve the goal of becoming nurses."
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