[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 32 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S2914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HEALTH CARE HERO

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to salute a Health Care 
Hero from my home State of Oregon, the N2K Nursing Shortage 
Demonstration Project.
  Several of my colleagues and I have come to this chamber before to 
discuss the growing shortage of health care workers in this country. 
This growing crisis has severe implications for quality patient care, 
retention of qualified nurses, and the future of health care delivery. 
Last year, Congress began to address this problem by passing the Nurse 
Reinvestment Act, but there is much more work to be done.
  Fortunately, an exciting new program in Oregon is working to find new 
ways to recruit nurses. The N2K project offers paraprofessional staff 
from local hospitals and clinics the opportunity to secure a nursing 
degree while continuing to receive their current salary and benefits. 
Participants finish prerequisite classwork, participate in clinical 
training and complete an 18 month nursing degree program. Because they 
have come from health care institutions, these workers are more likely 
to continue in the nursing profession and stay in the communities where 
they were trained, solving some of the pressing issues creating the 
nursing crisis.
  But the most unique and beneficial part of this program is that 
recruits must be bilingual or be from a minority population. A major 
challenge facing health care delivery today is the severe lack of 
bilingual health professionals. In Oregon, and in many other places, we 
have large immigrant communities, primarily Spanish-speaking, and few 
nurses who can communicate with them easily. Many N2K participants 
would not have the opportunity to pursue a professional nursing career 
were this program not available. As nurses, they will bring a new level 
of comfort and care to non-English speaking patients.
  Although the N2K demonstration project is still in its initial 
stages, it is already showing great success. Representatives from the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health 
visited Oregon this week to meet with the participating institutions 
and 11 students completing the program. The visitors were deeply 
impressed with the project, particularly after speaking with these 
excellent students who look forward to a rewarding career in nursing.
  Today I honor the N2K project as a Health Care Hero. N2K's vision and 
dedication to building a more diverse health care work force is helping 
Oregon find the quality workers we need to meet tomorrow's health care 
challenges. I look forward to the project's continuing success and wish 
the partnership all the best as it moves forward.

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