Understaffed

Kew Gardens: The pandemic has exposed a glaring deficiency ignored for many years: a shortage of nurses. We’ve made do by importing nurses to fill hospital staffs in the past, but is that a better alternative than having nurses who are American-born and domestically trained, and who have the available cultural awareness and needed language skills? If members of Congress are serious about assisting American families with the cost of post-high-school education, one area that should be considered seriously is free tuition for nursing schools. Future pandemics are a real possibility. This nation should be embarrassed at the toll that this pandemic has wrought on nurses during their tremendously long sacrifice working on the front lines, resulting in death and physical and mental strain.

Glenn Hayes