Susanne provided some insight and support for those who are looking to the health care field for careers and job stability. Take Care continues to hire and promote health care. Reinforcing that taking on a career in health care is not for everyone, it requires compassion, commitment, and willingness to accept change.
Highlights from the article:
The Federal government is forecasting a national need for 600,000 more RNs in the decade between 2008 and 2018. How can they be so sure? Because demographics are destiny, and healthcare spending isn’t optional. An aging population and an aging workforce are driving a national nursing shortage that seems sure to deepen.
The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice is starting a career training grants program that will pay tuition costs for people who want to acquire nursing skills.
This year, boomers are between the ages of 46 and 64. So while the overall population of Sarasota and Manatee counties is expected to grow about 15 percent between 2010 and 2020, the population aged 65 to 74 should grow 43 percent, according to the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Home Healthcare Nurses
A growing number of nurses don’t work in hospitals or nursing homes. Home healthcare services were a $56 billion industry in 2008, and their revenues had more than doubled since 2000. Susanne Wise says there were perhaps two dozen small businesses supplying private duty nurses in this market when she founded Take Care Private Duty Home Health Care 15 years ago. Once a practicing nurse, she’s now the CEO of a company that has 550 employees, serves 400 clients and has annual revenues of $15.7 million. Take Care doesn’t bill Medicare; its clients pay with savings or insurance, so they tend to be from higher-income households.
But coordinating care for geriatric clients isn’t easy. “We typically see people who have overlapping conditions that can combine to create new problems,” she says. “We also have to think about the side effects of multiple prescription drugs, and managing insurance companies. I have run into clients who don’t actually need nursing care—they just need someone to interpret the results of tests, coordinate medical appointments and deal with insurance carriers.”
“Everything about healthcare is a growth industry,” says Wise, “so you have to be comfortable with constant change if you want to become a nurse. You also need to have a passion for what you do—a commitment to care for others.”
Read the full article here: Nurses Needed-STAT!