PHOENIX — Arizona's population is aging and the demand for nurses is only getting higher. But there is a major shortage.
There are efforts underway in Arizona to try and change that by removing one obstacle that could be in the way, money.
Joyce Wilt is a current nursing student hoping to join the healthcare career.
“Healthcare isn’t going anywhere,” she said when asked about why she chose the profession. It was also at the urging of her young daughter. "She said 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' And I said, 'I want to be a nurse.' And she said, 'well then why aren't you?' And it was very frank and very matter of fact."
The healthcare profession needs people like Wilt badly. Healthcare jobs site Vivian showed Arizona had less than 60,000 licensed RNs in 2020. The state will reportedly need more than 81,000 nurses by 2030 to meet the demand.
For Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Braxton Howard, nursing runs in the family.
"It's very rewarding. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done,” he said.
His aunt is a nurse and inspired him to go into the field. He thinks there may be a few reasons more people aren't flocking to this career.
"Especially now with Covid, and with all the other scares that a lot of people have. Nurses are getting out of the profession and so it can scare some people away," he commented.
According to Vivian, the nursing shortage has five factors: turnover, retirement, aging population, faculty shortage and burnout, especially after the pandemic. But that's what motivated Wilt to make the jump.
"I felt this need to help. Of course, you hear about the nursing shortages. The real need in healthcare and I thought, I want to be that person," she stated.
Traveling nurses have been used to fill in the gaps at hospitals and healthcare facilities but a more permanent solution is needed.
There are many efforts across Arizona to address the shortage. Sun Health Foundation in the west Valley is behind one of those efforts. The nonprofit health and well being organization has awarded more than $800,000 in grants over three years to nursing students.
“It's allowed them to not have to take an extra job. It allowed them not to have to work extra hours or take more shifts in order to complete their education," Sun Health Foundation President Joe La Rue said about the students.
That’s how Howard was able to earn his master’s degree and what’s helping Wilt through school now.
And in early 2023, the Arizona Department of Health Services said more than $43 million in grants were going to five universities to try and help with the nursing shortage as well.
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