Published on wdsu.com On Call: Programs Aim To Fill Health-Care Staff Shortages METAIRIE, La. -- Local hospitals and a college are teaming up to fill staff shortages in the health-care industry. Like many other medical facilities in the metro area, East Jefferson General Hospital needs good nurses. Janice Kishner, the hospital's chief operating officer and nurse executive, said one big factor is contributing to the shortage: A lack of positions available to qualified applicants in the nursing schools. "For example, in this area last year, 1,500 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing school. So, the whole supply and demand issue is upside down." To help combat the problems, East Jefferson has teamed up with Our Lady of the Lake Hospital to offer applicants an accelerated version of nursing school. "These applicants already have a baccalaureate in some other area and they've taken their prerequisites for nursing school. So, once they come to East Jefferson into those programs, within 11 months and taking pure clinical rotations, they'll be graduating in July 2009," Kishner said. WDSU NewsChannel 6 Medical Editor Dr. Corey Hebert reported a shortage of emergency medical services workers, saying the problems existed before Hurricane Katrina, but the storm made the situation worse. So, East Jefferson is joining forces with Delgado Community College. "Our partnership with Delgado is part of a retention, a recruitment, just a program to provide more EMTs and paramedics to the region," said Michael Guillot, director of emergency medical services at East Jefferson General Hospital. One big advantage of this program is that all the classes are held at East Jefferson General Hospital -- a huge help for Brent Boudreaux, an EMT who's studying to be a paramedic. "The paramedic class takes one year and it's going to be closer to home instead of me driving all the way to the City Park campus down in New Orleans. It's going to be a shorter distance for me right here at the hospital," Boudreaux said. Both programs are currently accepting applications.
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