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TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the panel’s hearing on the shortage of nurses and nursing faculty members in the Garden State:

“Quality nurses are at the very backbone of any good health care system. They serve on the front-lines, providing care and compassion to patients seeking medical care and seniors seeking dignity and long-term care in their twilight years. They also sometimes serve as the first – and usually, most significant – contact for worried family members trying to get the best care possible for their sick loved ones.

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Joseph F. Vitale and Barbara Buono which would establish a loan redemption program for nursing educators in New Jersey was unanimously approved by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today.

“The key to a quality nursing workforce in New Jersey is quality nursing educators,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and a member of the Senate Budget panel. “However, many of our best, most talented and most experienced nursing professionals – who would be ideal to pass along the skills they’ve learned – can make much more money practicing, rather than teaching. New Jersey needs to provide competitive incentives, including loan redemption for nurses who have achieved their graduate degrees, to make sure we have the teachers needed to educate the nurses of tomorrow.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph F. Vitale which would establish a loan incentive and redemption program for nursing educators in New Jersey was approved unanimously by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee today.

“New Jersey’s nursing workforce is absolutely essential to providing for quality health care in the State,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chair of the Senate Health panel. “While we’ve made progress in reducing a nursing staff deficit, we’re currently facing a critical shortfall of nursing teachers which could jeopardize any progress that we’ve made. We need to ensure that New Jersey residents looking to enter into the nursing profession have the quality teachers available to give them the strong academic foundation to succeed.”