WHITE RIVER JCT., Vt. (WCAX) – There’s a new push to recruit more visiting nurses in Vermont and New Hampshire thanks to a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Home health care is a growing field, but providers say there are not enough nurses to do the job.
Ruth Grover has been in health care for more than 20 years. The RN is currently employed with Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire.
“You can catch things before they end up having to go back to the hospital, and that is what they don’t want to do — is keep going to the hospital,” Grover said. On this day, Grover is checking in on a homebound client with mobility issues in White River Junction. “And you get to meet so many people and you kind of make a bond with them and visit them over and over again.”
But VNH CEO Johanna Beliveau says that just like the health care industry as a whole, their organization simply does not have enough staff. “Most undergraduate nursing students do not have a lot of opportunity to experience home-based care,” she said.
New England Home Health Nurse Residency Project –which is expanding with the federal grant– aims to create a virtual curriculum with partner agencies, targeting nursing students who are still in school. “The future of health care is home-based care. More and more it’s moving to that environment. It’s where exciting innovation is really happening and it’s critical to bring our new nurses along,” Beliveau said.
And Grover, who has been doing it for a while, says the work is rewarding. “I love helping people,” she said.
VNH officials say they are hoping to recruit 10 rural agencies to participate in the workforce training, which would ideally result in hiring up to 25 new nurses in 2025.