Nursing shortage drives demand

“There is a national nursing shortage, and Springfield is dealing with the
same situation,” said Karen Thomas, president of Oxford Healthcare, a CoxHealth affiliate that offers home health care services.
To address the shortage, Oxford recruits employees by attending high school career days and graduate classes to talk about the value and rewards of a career in nursing. Oxford utilizes newspaper ads, Web sites and career centers to recruit. The company also recruits nurses from local nursing schools.
“The hospital and Oxford both have a recruiter full time to recruit nurses,” Thomas said. “The key for us is to work with the employees. We try hard to be flexible with part-time or full-time (positions) and offer flexibility of hours. We encourage those who have retired to re-enter the work force. Many companies are paying for people to update their education and go back into nursing or pay the tuition if a nursing student will go to work for them after they graduate.”
Those entering the nursing field can expect to earn in the mid-$30,000 range. With experience, a nurse at CoxHealth can expect to earn more than $40,000 with the capability of going higher.
“We have a profession that has not grown dramatically while the aging population is growing. There are more people aging and that creates a greater need,” Thomas said.
“There is a need for nurses and it is a very rewarding career,” she added. “A lot of males are becoming nurses too. It’s not just a woman’s job.”
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