NC has an ‘urgent’ need for nurses, CNAs amid coronavirus. How to register to help.
State health officials, aided by volunteers from East Carolina’s School of Nursing, are working to place nurses with facilities in desperate need of help due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Calling the situation “urgent”, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services said registered nurses and certified nursing assistants are needed to boost current staffing, particularly at long-term care facilities where COVID-19 outbreaks have been severe statewide.
“A crucial part of our response to COVID-19 is bolstering the health care workforce so we can respond to outbreaks as soon as possible,” Ben Money, the state’s deputy secretary for health services, said in an email statement. “The East Carolina University School of Nursing is partnering with us to match health care workers with the ability to pick up extra shifts to facilities in the nurse’s local area.”
Facilities are in need of temporary, part-time or full-time help. Anyone interested can register at https://nc.readyop.com/fs/4cjq/697b.
The ECU nursing school volunteers will match the workers with facilities. While the state is helping facilitate the matching, the facilities themselves will be hiring for the positions.
Due to COVID-19, state rules have been temporarily relaxed to allow health care professionals with out-of-state licenses and students eligible for graduation to work immediately.