AT LEAST nine US states are now “eagerly recruiting” Filipino nurses and other health professionals, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said.
Former senator and TUCP general secretary Ernesto Herrera identified the nine US states as California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey.
Over 50 percent of 77.5 million American baby boomers—those born between 1946 to 1964—live in these nine states. This is why these states need health professionals by the thousands,” Herrera said.
Baby boomers now represent 28 percent of the US population.
The oldest baby boomers are turning 60 this year, and Herrera said they are starting to strain US health care facilities such as hospitals, clinics and nursing homes.
Based on a demographic profile, Herrera also identified 16 other US states where baby boomers account for at least 30 percent of the (state’s) population.
They are Alaska, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Herrera cited the case of hospitals in Texas that have resorted to pirating experienced Filipino nurses from California.
“Hospitals in Texas have been luring Filipino nurses from California and other states with acceptance bonuses of $50,000, on top of covering their relocation expenses.
“That is a lot of money, equal to a year’s pay for senior Filipino nurses in California,” Herrera said. “Filipino nurses in California are stressed out.
“Many of them are working for two or even three hospitals at the same time,” Herrera said, adding that hospitals in the Golden State have also been swamped by settlers from Mexico that purposely give birth in the US in order to avail themselves of lucrative federal and state subsidies.
“Most American baby boomers are filthy rich, having benefited from the stock—market and real— estate booms.
“Many baby boomer households are privately retaining nurses and caregivers,” Herrera pointed out.
Herrera made the disclosure not long after a study by the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Health claimed that the Philippines has emerged as the world’s top exporter of nurses.
The Association of Philippine Medical Colleges also reported that over 100,000 nurses have left the country since 1994, with 57 percent of them going to Saudi Arabia, 14 percent to the US and 12 percent to the United Kingdom.
The rest went to Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Singapore, Kuwait, Brunei, Japan and the Nordic countries.
Business Mirror
April 24, 2006
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