Dozens of new nurses enter the workforce for Baptist Health Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — COVID-19 has only helped fuel a nationwide nursing shortage with so many nurses leaving their jobs.

Still many local colleges like, Jacksonville University, have launched accelerated nursing programs in partnership with Baptist Health to get more nurses in hospitals.

On Wednesday, Action News Jax caught up with 62 new nurses who were training at JU’s Healthcare Simulation Center.

Alina Kelly-Stewart began her path to nursing much later in life after her kids were grown and left the house.

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“I knew that trying to successfully attend nursing school and raise two kids would have been totally impossible,” she said.

To get her prepared for the job, Baptist Health is offering nursing students like Kelly-Stewart, hands on training.

When the pandemic hit, many universities were forced to shut down their labs and clinicals for their students to gain experience.

That’s why the hospital is giving students the chance to practice in a safe environment where you’re allowed to make mistakes and learn from them.

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“It helps ease your nerves because, you can mess up here, and the instructors will come back, and you know, give you positive feedback,” Abitimo Odongkara, a nursing student, said.

Baptist Health is doing several things to combat the national nursing shortage and put more nurses at the bedside.

“We’ve started a CNA program. We’re trying to get that accredited to be a school for anybody. We started an LPN program where we take LPNs that have no experience with acute care,” Nancy Ewing, the director of the nurse residency program, said.

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Ewing said the pandemic changed everything. In her 39 years of working, she’s never experienced anything like it.

“It’s very difficult for anybody to watch a patient die, but to see 10 die in one day is more than any new nurse should ever have to endure,” Ewing said.

But despite the challenges of COVID-19, these new nurses are rising up and answering the call.

“It did not deter me at all. It actually made me want to hurry up and finish faster, so I can be out here in the workforce to help our fellow nurses take care of patients,” Odongkara said.

“Lets do this. We can do this together,” Kelly-Stewart said.

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