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My fellow Vermonters,
Yesterday, I joined Governor Phil Scott and Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint – who also spoke on behalf of House Speaker Jill Krowinski – to discuss our state’s nursing workforce crisis. You can read my full remarks here, and watch local news coverage below.
Like almost every state in this country Vermont has faced a nursing shortage for many, many years. That shortage has been significantly exacerbated by the pandemic, and we now face a crisis situation. The simple truth is that patients are not getting the quality care they need because there are not enough nurses to provide that care. That is true in hospitals, nursing homes and almost all types of health care facilities.
Today, we have about 15,000 nurses in Vermont. The reality is that we will need to put into our workforce some 9,000 additional nurses in the next five years if we are going to fill the shortages we currently have, in addition to replacing those nurses who retire from the profession or leave for whatever reason. If we are going to provide the high-quality health care we need in Vermont our goal should be to have about 25,000 nurses, at all levels, by the year 2027.
There are a number of reasons as to why we have a nursing shortage today:
1. We do not have enough educators in our nursing schools. To graduate the number of nursing students we will need in the coming years, the nurse educator faculty must expand from 75 to 125 full-time teaching faculty.
2. We pay nurse educators abysmally. The average salary for a nurse educator in Vermont is $65,000. We must significantly increase their salaries.
3. We do not have an adequate number of hands-on training positions for nurses in medical facilities around Vermont.
As an immediate step forward, we must create scholarships and loan repayment programs and other forms of incentives for Vermonters and out-of-state individuals who agree to live and work in Vermont for no less than five years in qualifying nursing professions.
Nurses are the backbone of our health care system in Vermont and across the country. Simply stated, we will not have the quality health care we need unless we have an adequate number of nurses who are well trained and well compensated. I have absolute confidence that this is a problem that can be solved.
I look forward to working with the governor, the legislature and the congressional delegation to make certain that we do that.
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