Christine Jordan Sexton
The state is asking the federal government for 1,500 nurses to “surge into hospitals for day and night shifts.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ administration submitted the application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on July 3 and said it would provide the names of the hospitals where the nurses would be deployed this week.
Immediate attempts to get the names of the facilities were unsuccessful.
Until the FEMA nurses arrive, DeSantis said he would direct other nurses to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and to Tampa.
And DeSantis isn’t the only one clamoring for additional nurses.
Florida’s county health departments told state officials they need 997 additional nurses to help in the COVID-19 response. The health departments in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties asked for an additional 400, 90 and 76 nurses, respectively.
But the question is: Are there enough nurses to help?
A study conducted by the Resources and Services Administration National Center showed the United States had an estimated 3.95 million licensed registered nurses in 2017. Roughly 60% of them reported working in hospital settings.
A more recent Florida Department of Health report showed 353,654 registered nurses were licensed to practice in Florida in June 2019, the latest available data. The majority of the nurses — 275,976 — lived in the state. Another 35,304 advanced practice nurses were licensed to work in Florida. And the Legislature this year agreed to allow certain advanced nurses to practice independently from physicians.
Nurses aren’t the only professionals the county health departments told the state they needed.
When surveyed about their needs by the Florida Department of Health last month, county departments reported needing another 350 epidemiologists and 1,210 contact tracers.
The DOH released the county health department data Thursday as it announced the distribution of more than $138 million in federal pandemic funds to hire staff. The Broward County Health Department is slated to receive $30.5 million; the Miami-Dade County Health Department will receive nearly $19.5 million, and the Palm Beach County Health Department will receive more than $12.7 million.
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Republished with permission of the News Service of Florida.
6 comments
Sonja Fitch
July 13, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Caught you again duffus Desantis with your pants down!!!! Nrw York/Cuomo have the world a plan to get through. But oh no duffus Desantis you are to damn busy kissing trumps Butt! Shut down the state
Serafina
July 13, 2020 at 2:59 pm
De Santis you are an ignorant science moron……New York Governor is better educated man than you…you did not understand the data nor have a concept of what it means to have an epidemic/pandemic.
Stop killing Floridians…do not send children to school until there is downward curve and flattening of curve and preparations.
STOP KISSING TRUMP’S GLUTEALS.AND HAVING FATHER AUTHOTITATIVE ISSUES…. ONLY IN AMERICA CAN IT HAVE A POTUS AN UNQUALIFIED WHITE MAN AN ENTERTAINER FAILED BUSSINESS MAN STEALING TAX DOLLARS as president.
Serafina
July 13, 2020 at 3:04 pm
Good luck with getting nurses.
There has been a shortage for over 40 years.
You need to shut down the state…with virus there is NO hard immunity. Disgusted with your ignorance Desantis you are responsible for the murder of many Floridians due to your ignorance..shame on you and may lord have mercy on you and children.
You will pay the cost of these deaths if not now…in future with your children.
Scott
July 13, 2020 at 4:01 pm
Let’s open schools while acknowledging we don’t currently have enough nurses for the cases and hospitalizations we have now??
So thousands of kids and staff will surely add to the number of cases and hospitalizations.
Can someone, anyone, explain how this is ok and we should continue to open the economy?
sesea sebole
July 14, 2020 at 12:04 pm
I can’t understand, why ANYTHING that is going on in this wicked world, is catching, any true believer off guard!! The Bible’s prophecies, are being fulfilled, and Jesus is soon to return!! Do NOT, put your trust in man. Instead, of bad mouthing, our leaders, we are to pray for them. God’s words, not mine. So if you are a “professing Christian,” check your behavior, before bad mouthing people.
ross
July 15, 2020 at 6:58 pm
I believe Desantis has acted in the best interest of the state. Why, well we are supposed to be a free society. he has respected freedom. people make bad choices. we must learn to be responsible for our actions. mask when appropriate. Sickly people should be mindful of their potential to catch this and other airborne diseases. locking down healthy people makes no sense. the numbers are some what skewed. of the 20,000,000 million + or – people in florida only 4500 deaths have been attributed to “covid”. for every covid related death there is money to be made. hospitals make good money on an “icu ” covid patient, compared to a non covid pt. people were dying before in florida, an average of 50 per day from medical problems and other things, now we don’t hear about those and we never really cared about those numbers. why don’t we see people dying from natural causes any more? money. money is tied to every covid death.
it would be nice if reporters were interested in reporting facts that gave a careful investigated report of all the facts.
desantis is a republican, therefore he must be attacked. if he was a democrat he would be praised.
come on people, think, do your homework. we are getting the wrong information from the press.
now go ahead and attack me, i can take it…..
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