WASHINGTON (AP) — As the nation yearns for a new normal after its long battle with the coronavirus, U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra warned Thursday that vaccines, tests and treatments would be “grounded” unless that Congress provide the additional funds that the White House has demanded.

“We have reached a turning point,” Becerra said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The quality of our pivot depends on us.”

Omicron variant BA.2, which causes a rebound of the virus in Europe and Asia, is gaining traction in the United States, although the total number of cases here is still falling. And Becerra said a funding standoff with Capitol Hill could hamper the Biden Administration promising new strategy called “test to treat”.

Under the plan, people could go to their local pharmacy for a COVID test, and if positive, receive medication that they could then take at home. A “one-stop shop”, he called.

But “if you don’t have the money to fly it, you’re stuck,” Becerra said. “You are grounded.

In a wide-ranging interview, Becerra also expressed concerns about the rise in cases among children. as schools lift mask requirements.

Schools have become a flashpoint in the COVID response, with some parents opposing mask requirements as an invasion of personal liberty and others reluctant to put their children near any potential risk. With the pendulum now swinging in the direction of unmasking, Becerra said he hoped the cautious would not be singled out.

“I hope there is no stigma of a child,” he said. “If a parent says, ‘I want my child to wear a mask,’ good for them.”

He also said his Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prepare so millions of people won’t lose their health insurance if their Medicaid eligibility expires when the government ends the official COVID public health emergency. . During the pandemic, Congress provided more money for state Medicaid programs. But in exchange, the states were prevented from tearing down the lists.

A more comfortable new normal is within reach, Becerra said, but it depends on two things. One is the virus, which has proven difficult to control. The other is Americans’ sense of personal responsibility. With less than half of the eligible population now augmented, even as medical experts weigh a new fourth round of vaccines, more calls for personal responsibility could be ignored.

Asked about the likelihood of a return to a more relaxed and normal life, Becerra replied: “If everyone does their part, then yes.”

But he quickly added: “If not, get ready. This thing is hard to tame. COVID has taken us on a wild ride.

The White House and Congress are deadlocked over President Joe Biden’s request for $22.5 billion to continue the government’s COVID response this year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to secure a $15.6 billion package, but various objections from Democrats and Republicans prevented a deal from being struck. The White House said money for some efforts, including purchasing additional booster doses and for monoclonal antibody treatments, will run out by the end of this month. Also at risk: free COVID care for the uninsured.

As for the “Test to Treat” program, Becerra said it would help people get medicine soon after being infected, avoiding possible hospitalization.

“Testing to treat is essential,” he said. “You are doing a great deal to prevent the spread of COVID.”

But at the moment, the option is not widely available. Pharmacy “Locations don’t grow on trees, like money doesn’t grow on trees, and that costs money,” Becerra said.

Throughout the pandemic, the government has struggled to clearly communicate with the public about COVID risks and countermeasures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of HHS, has been particularly criticized for giving complicated and changing advice.

But Becerra said those who spread misinformation about the coronavirus must bear the brunt of the blame for confusing Americans.

“Scientists have communicated pretty clearly with the American people what to do,” he said. “Unfortunately, someone else decides to skew or skew the message, or completely twist it in a way that is wrong.”

Becerra likened the pandemic to a five-alarm fire that’s contained but still dangerous.

“You need to feel like things have stabilized” before attempting to transition from COVID, he warned.

“We have to get to a point where we believe the health status of the country and our people is stabilized enough,” he said. “I think we’re getting closer and closer to the point where we don’t see the need to have those five alarms anymore.”

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Miami, Florida. – Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT), Florida’s statewide youth-led movement to combat the tobacco and nicotine industries, announced the names of its newest Youth Advocacy Board members . Saesha Wani of Jose Marti MAST 6-12 Academy and Kyle King of Palmetto High School in Miami have been named members of the Youth Defense Board of Directors. Members of the Youth Advocacy Board help recruit and retain SWAT members, help plan and implement SWAT activities, and serve as a liaison between the state SWAT organization and their local SWAT members by providing updates. updates and recommendations as needed.

The Youth Advocacy Board works in conjunction with the Florida Department of Health‘s Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida to help plan SWAT initiatives and goals and provides information about the state’s youth prevention efforts. SWAT aims to empower, educate and equip young people in Florida to stand up against Big Tobacco. Students work with county providers to support initiatives that educate their peers about tobacco and nicotine use, help protect youth from tobacco, and strengthen local policies, including those that protect youth from exposure electronic cigarette products.

In 2021, 36.3% of high school students in Florida said they had tried inhaled nicotine products[i]. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that can impair the development of the brain, which does not stop developing until around the age of 25.[ii] and even e-cigarette products marketed as nicotine-free have been found to contain traces of it. SWAT raises awareness of the dangers posed by electronic cigarettes and nicotine products and aims to make them less acceptable and less accessible.

Other teenagers elected to the Youth Advocacy Board are, from Region 1: Alyssa Wheeler; Devyn Langley, Shanae Kisi; Nataleigh Parham. Region 2: Natasha counts; Isabelle Baxter; Ivy Baxter; Mackenzie Donnelly. Region 3: Kamya Williams; Gunner Reynolds; Mahika Podarala; Brian Amador. Region 4: Toni Maxwell; Isabelle Velez; David Egues.

“I look forward to working with my peers to advocate for tobacco control and take action in our communities,” said Saesha Wani. “I am grateful to work with so many talented young minds to achieve our goals,” said Kyle King. “The family we’ve created here is amazing and I’m excited for the world to see what we have next.”

Members of the SWAT Youth Advocacy Board will serve one term until June 30, 2022.

[i] Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, 2021. (Accessed January 6, 2022)

[ii] US Department of Health and Human Services. E-cigarette use among youth and young adults. A report from the medical general. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2016. (Accessed January 6, 2022)

About Student Work Against Tobacco (SWAT)

SWAT is a Florida statewide youth organization working to mobilize, educate and equip Florida youth to rise up in revolt against Big Tobacco and the cigarette industry electronics and de-glamorize it. SWAT is a united movement of empowered youth working for a tobacco-free future.

To learn more about student action against tobacco, visit http://www.swatflorida.com/ or follow us on Instagram at @swatflorida.

After a year and a half of lockdowns, border closures, mask-wearing and social distancing, and the rollout of the vaccine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved on to what is essentially a “let it rip” pandemic approach.

It’s a boost from the government to “open up” and “get back to normal”. However, since this approach was adopted, it has led to the spread of omicron at increased rates across the country.

This shift to “learning to live with the virus” makes life more difficult and more dangerous for vulnerable groups such as First Nations, people with disabilities, seniors, people with chronic conditions and immunocompromised people. Refugees and migrants are also more at risk serious illness and death from COVID.

Experts warn: “As the virus moves into vulnerable populations, such as older Australians, people with disabilities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander […] we could see an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.”

This way of thinking was particularly prevalent in the discourse surrounding the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics COVID-19 Mortality Report. As reported in The Guardiansome media have stated or implied that COVID does not kill enough “healthy” people for it to be considered harmful, thus placing a lower value on some lives.

For example Joe Hildebrand written in an editorial for news.com.au: “…not only did so-called “COVID deaths” account for only 1% of deaths during the pandemic, but 92% of that 1% were people with pre-existing health conditions ranging from pneumonia to heart disease.”

“Living with COVID” doesn’t include everyone

In Australia, some people with weakened immune systems cannot be vaccinated due to chronic disease. There are also some people whose bodies will not respond to COVID vaccines either because of medications for ongoing treatments or because of comorbidities that impact their immune system.

Even if people with chronic conditions get vaccinated, their weakened immune systems mean there is no certainty they would be protected from COVID.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are affected by the disease 2.3 times more than non-Aboriginal Australians.

General practitioner and epidemiologist Dr Jason Agostino of the Australian National University noted“There are nearly 300,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults who are at higher risk of becoming very ill if they are not vaccinated and contract COVID-19.”

ADF staff have been called in to help fight the outbreak, which has infected more than 70 residents and staff.

Via @hapsterpark https://t.co/XKzKS9gtDF

— NITV (@NITV) February 26, 2022

How First Nations communities are still being left behind

Prior to the pandemic, Aboriginal people faced health disadvantages and inequitable access to health care. It has gotten worse since the pandemic. One of the significant issues has been access to affordable food during the pandemic, increased vulnerability of homeless Indigenous people during lockdowns, lack of ability to self-isolate at home, and lack of access to health care. community health.

The pandemic has also disrupted communities that could not see each other due to public health concerns. This has an impact on community approaches to health care, cultural practices and connection to country.

COVID-19 is disrupting the social fabric in the Kimberley as community transmission grows.https://t.co/i7JkEMfMM5

— ABC Indigenous (@ABCIndigenous) February 27, 2022

Some indigenous communities also have limited access to health services and need to be better informed by health workers in their own communities about testing and vaccination. This has been proven by stories like in Arnhem Land, Uncle Charlie Gunabarra, Chairman of the Mala’la Health Service, traveled to remote communities to share information about the COVID-19 vaccine. This led to a a significant increase in vaccinations.

What should happen

A study by the Australian National University, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Lowitja Institute reinforce that First Nations people “must remain a priority group” for Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this study, Dr Tanya Schramm from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said: “Improving access to social determinants such as housing and healthcare will reduce the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 in Indigenous peoples, and this must occur alongside chronic disease care and management and efforts to increase immunization coverage.

Efforts have been made to overcome access to health services during the pandemic through telehealth and online health care options. However, access to these services faces challenges such as limited telephone access, computer literacy and internet coverage. It also has an impact on refugee and migrant communities.

Despite Scott Morrision declaration “We are now at a stage in the pandemic where you cannot make everything free”, not everyone can afford to buy rapid antigen tests. Although there are recent initiatives in place to make them available to concession card holders and the WA population, these tests should be free for all.

Ableism is complex, harmful, and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the damage to priority groups. In order to address this issue, the government needs to better include First Nations communities in its COVID-19 strategies going forward. This can be done by providing resources to health organizations controlled by Indigenous communities in regional and remote areas, as recommended by the Australian Department of Health.

Better government support and communication with First Nations people and their health centers can minimize misinformation and fear around the virus and the vaccine. It could also provide much better access to health care, vaccines and rapid antigen tests.

As Western Australia opens up, some remote Indigenous communities and aged care facilities have been placed under quarantine, we must find better ways to support vulnerable communities in the fight against COVID-19 in Australia .

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This article is republished from The conversation under Creative Commons license. Read it original article.

Karnataka Brain Health Initiative recently launched by Minister of Health Dr K Sudhakar and its pilot projects in Kolar, Chikkaballapur and South Bengaluru will soon provide diagnosis of common neurological disorders by physicians (doctors) based on investigations laboratory and brain imaging.

Progressive chronic diseases, such as dementia, encephalitis, meningitis, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, are the major areas of concern due to their high burden in the state. Nine out of 10 people in the state suffer from one or more of these eight conditions.

In Karnataka, stroke, headache and epilepsy account for 70.1% of the gross DALY (disability adjusted life years) burden due to neurological disorders. DALY is a measure of the global burden of disease, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill health, disability or premature death.

Dr Rajani Parthasarathy, Deputy Director, Mental Health, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said, “NITI Aayog, together with NIMHANS, suggested conducting pilot projects in urban and rural areas recognizing the need for improve care and reduce the burden of neurological disorders. in the community.”

The initiative was launched on January 25. The Department of Health, NIMHANS and BBMP will provide evidence-based training and management strategies for common neurological conditions such as stroke, headache, epilepsy and dementia for use in primary, secondary and tertiary care centers.

This will facilitate early diagnosis, reduce the treatment gap and reduce levels of disability due to neurological diseases in the community. “The main outcome will be to develop a model of care that can be implemented at the national level to improve patient care and influence policy change towards better management of brain disorders,” Parthasarathy said.

The diseases that contribute the most to the burden of disability are stroke, headache, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and cerebral palsy. However, awareness is low and currently the deficit in diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders ranges from 50% to 90% in the country.

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The University of Memphis announced Wednesday that Ashish Joshi will begin August 1 as the new dean of the School of Public Health.

Joshi, 46, is from New York City where he currently works as senior associate dean for academic and student affairs at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. , according to a press release from the U of M.

He succeeds James Gurney, who returned to the faculty after approximately three years as Dean. Currently, Marian Levy is Acting Dean.

Joshi, born in India, joined CUNY in 2014 and was appointed to his current role in 2018.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Punjabi University in India, a master’s degree in public health from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in health informatics from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, according to the release.

Prior to CUNY, Joshi served as an associate professor in the Department of Health Services Research and Administration at the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Health Professions College faculty and staff outline ways to increase pool of essential personnel

Pace University today hosted New York State Senator Pete Harckham on a tour of its clinical simulation labs and hosted a panel discussion on meeting New York’s critical need for nurses and others. primary care professionals.

Visiting Lienhard Hall, home to Pace’s College of Health Professions and its Lienhard School of Nursing, Harckham joined nursing faculty, staff and students – who all shared their experiences in the field and discussed ways to address the shortage of nurses and expand health care. pipeline of workers, a staffing issue that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The stress and strain of the pandemic has exacerbated the current shortage of nurses in New York State,” said Senator Harckham. “I am delighted to be able to spend time with this new generation of nurses at Pace University, who will greatly benefit the It is essential that we encourage and reward people to join the nursing profession, which needs rejuvenation and reinforcement.

“Simulation is an evidence-based component of training for several healthcare professions that has been proven to improve student learning, confidence and clinical skills and ultimately improve the quality of patient care” , said Marcus Tye, dean of the College of Health Professions at Pace University. “Engaging preceptors and expanding the use of simulation in healthcare training will help increase the supply and quality of our future healthcare workforce.”

Nurses provide 90% of all patient care in hospitals, and by 2030 there is a projected shortage of more than 39,000 registered nurses in New York, according to the New State Department of Health. York. The challenge is so great across the country that the American Nurses’ Association has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to declare a national nurse staffing crisis.

To further complicate the situation, many schools are limited in the number of registered nurses they can prepare, despite great interest in the field, due to a shortage of clinical training experiences.

“I have met with numerous chief nursing officers from the New York and Westchester County health agencies, all of whom have expressed deep concern about the current and impending severe staffing shortages,” said Rhonda Maneval, associate dean of the College of Health Professions and the Lienhard School of Nursing. at Pace University, who testified before the state Legislature on the issue of the nursing shortage. “These meetings focused on ways our school could provide more practice-ready graduates. The good news is that despite the pandemic, or because of it, people want to become nurses. By working together, we can face this crisis head-on.

Pace University faculty have been leaders in advocating for ways to prepare and educate more people for careers in healthcare through a series of measures and proposals, including granting tax credits for practitioners as well as the adoption of a bill that would recognize part of a student’s time. spent in a controlled simulation laboratory count towards their required clinical hours.

“When it comes to preparing nurses for a complex work environment, far too many healthcare facilities and schools are in a crisis situation: they lack nurses and space for clinical experiences students, and as a result, schools are therefore limited in the number of healthcare workers they can prepare for the workforce,” said Dr. Harriet R. Feldman, Director of Wellness, Professor and Dean Emeritus of the College of Health Professions and the Lienhard School of Nursing. “With smart legislation and policy, however, nursing schools and care institutions can work together to increase the number of workers ready to respond to emergencies.”

For Cristina DeRose, a graduate nurse, classes taught in a simulation lab are productive and reflect real-life emergencies. “With the simulation, you know that each student has gained the necessary experience to work in the field.”

Senior Alexis Ninonueva agrees: “The simulation is particularly useful. The time spent in the simulation lab gives you confidence and Pace does a great job of preparing us for the profession.

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About Pace University

Since 1906, Pace University has been educating thoughtful professionals by providing high-quality education for the professions on a solid foundation of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs at its Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, College of Health Professions, School of Education, Faculty of Law and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

About the College of Health Professions

Established in 2010, the College of Health Professions at Pace University offers a wide range of programs at bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. The College’s goal is to create innovative and complex programs that reflect the changing landscape of the health care system. These programs are designed to prepare graduates for impactful careers in health care practice, health-related research, or as educators, and equip graduates to work in health and health policy fields. world. Students in clinical programs receive hands-on training at the College’s Interprofessional Center of Excellence in Healthcare Simulation and have the opportunity to apply their developmental skills in real-world settings at many of the region’s state-of-the-art clinical facilities. The College currently includes several important and growing areas of study including Nursing, Physician Assistant, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Nutrition and Dietetics, Occupational Therapy and Health Sciences . Our vision is to be recognized for our innovative leadership in education, practice, scholarship, and service to improve health and the health professions. Our mission is to educate and challenge diverse students for the health professions to be leaders, innovators, and lifelong learners who will positively impact local, national, and global health.

THURSDAY, Feb. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Anyone with more than one dog has seen it unfold: A beloved pet dies, and the remaining dog appears to be in as much pain as the rest of the family.

Now, new research from Italy is adding to the evidence that man’s best friend is indeed mourning such a loss.

Eighty-six percent of the 426 dog owners who lost a pet said their surviving dog continued to display negative behavioral changes for months. These changes included playing and eating less, sleeping more, becoming more fearful, and tending to whine and bark more often.

But does it all add up to canine grief?

“Overall, demonstrating grief in nonhuman animals is one of the greatest challenges facing science,” acknowledged study author Dr. Federica Pirrone. She is a lecturer in Veterinary Ethology and Animal Welfare at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences of the University of Milan.

Pirrone noted that “other social species – such as great apes, whales, dolphins, elephants and birds – have been described as engaging in death rituals in which the expression of grief could be seen “.

But “emotions, especially complex emotions like grief, are always a shadowy, and therefore intriguing, side of domestic dog life,” she said. “At least for us humans.”

To better understand canine grief, the study team administered a questionnaire to 384 women and 42 men who had lost a dog relatively recently.

On average, deceased dogs had been in the owner’s home for nearly 10 years, and in just over half of cases their death occurred unexpectedly.

More than 9 in 10 said their surviving dog had lived with the deceased dog for at least a year, and many said activity sharing was common: two-thirds of dogs had slept together; more than a quarter had combed their hair; half had played with each other; and more than half (54%) had never fought. Just over a third also shared their food, almost 60% shared their toys and 86% shared rest areas.

After a dog died, behavioral changes were common in surviving dogs, the team found, with only about 13% of owners seeing no change in their habits.

For example, attention seeking increased in two-thirds of surviving dogs, while 57% began to play less often. Overall activity levels dropped in 46% of dogs, with around a third tending to sleep more, eat less and/or be more fearful. Three out of 10 dogs barked and whined more.

The team found that the risk of behavior change increased the longer an owner grieved.

In the study, “the level of fear in the surviving dog was positively correlated with [the] owners’ level of pain, anger and psychological trauma,” Pirrone said.

The results were published on February 24 in the journal Scientific reports.

Patricia McConnell, a certified applied animal behaviorist, reviewed the results and believes that all of the changes cited in the study actually add up to expressions of canine grief.

“I’m glad the study was done, because frankly it seems impossible for dogs not to cry,” McConnell said. “They’re very social, some of the most social mammals in the world. And as mammals, they share a lot of the same neurobiology and the physiology that fuels our own emotions.”

What if one of your dogs dies?

Pirrone advised maintaining routines and staying close to the surviving dog, to “make them feel protected”.

But McConnell warned that – as with human grief – there is no quick “fix”.

In the advice she shares online, McConnell encourages owners to also give themselves space to grieve, knowing that “dogs can be extremely sensitive to your pain and feel powerless to ‘fix’ it. themselves”.

McConnell also suggests spending time “talking” to your dog to maintain a connection, while striving to follow a mix of old daily routines and stimulating new activities.

But at the end of the day, she says, “dogs need something similar to what we need: gentleness, attention and time, time, time.”

More information

There’s more on human-animal relationships at US Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCES: Federica Pirrone, DVM, PhD, Lecturer, Veterinary Ethology and Animal Welfare, Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Milan; Patricia McConnell, PhD; Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and Expert, Companion Animal Behavior and Human/Animal Relationship Biology and Philosophy, and Adjunct Professor, Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Scientific Reports, February 24, 2022

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee introduced legislation in the Senate on Tuesday that would encourage nurses to take jobs in rural Idaho.

Health care facilities have long struggled to fill jobs in remote mountain towns and border areas of Idaho. In some of these communities, a nurse practitioner may be the only primary care provider available for miles.

Legislation, Senate Bill 1287, would create a state-funded student loan repayment program for nurses who work in rural Idaho towns.

The bill creates a bucket, and the Legislature would then have to appropriate the money to fund the program, which is proposed at $250,000 per year.

“We have set a goal of 10 nursing graduates per year to be recruited from rural Idaho,” Randall Hudspeth, executive director of the Idaho Nursing Center, told the committee during the introduction of the bill on Tuesday. “Now it would be nice if we could recruit more, but based on (recent history) the state, 10 is a realistic goal.”

“It’s a crisis for rural hospitals”

Over a recent two-year period, Idaho lost 26% of its rural nursing workforce, Hudspeth told the committee.

This workforce brain drain happened just as a pandemic was inundating small Idaho hospitals, as reported by the Idaho Capital Sun and other news outlets.

“In 2020, I identified some concerning trends regarding the nursing workforce in rural Idaho and the migration of nurses,” Hudspeth said.

There were 6,459 registered nurses in rural Idaho in 2018, according to Hudspeth. That number fell to 4,755 in 2020, he said.

Many rural Idaho nurses left their communities for Boise, the greater Treasure Valley, and other metropolitan areas such as Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Coeur d’Alene. Others left their jobs for traveling nursing, retired, went back to school to earn advanced degrees, or found new careers.

About 46% of all registered nurses in Idaho now live in or around Boise, he said.

“This is a crisis for rural hospitals. It is also a crisis for long-term care agencies and other agencies that employ RNs in the community and are dependent on a resident nursing workforce,” Hudspeth told the committee.

“What concerns us the most is that … there are (rural) hospitals without nurses that could close, and what the literature teaches us is that when a hospital closes in a rural community, in the 18 months, providers – mainly doctors – will leave the community because they don’t have a hospital,” he said.

Hudspeth: Student loan incentives ‘one of several mitigation strategies’

Similar state and federal programs attract more graduates to rural areas by offering to help them repay or cancel their student loans. the national health service is for healthcare workers traveling to shortage areas – all rural areas of Idaho are eligible.

There are specific programs that help with student loans for specialists working in rural Idaho, such as veterinarians Where behavioral health clinicians in areas hard hit by opioids.

The average student loan debt for Idaho nursing school graduates is nearly $26,000, Hudspeth told the committee.

The new program would be open to licensed practical nurses and registered nurses.

RNs are the backbone of Idaho’s hospitals and LPNs are the backbone of long-term care facilities, but they both work in every health care setting imaginable.

Nurses in the program are expected to work in rural areas or in designated “critical access hospitals”.

CAHs make up more than half of Idaho’s hospitals; without them, people in these communities would have to fly or drive long distances to seek hospital care.

Hudspeth said the plan has the support of the Idaho Hospital Association, Idaho Health Care Association, Rural Health Association, all schools of nursing and nursing associations in Idaho.