El Paso hospitals coping with nursing shortage amid thousands of job openings

EL PASO, Texas --  A year and half after the pandemic began, local health officials said El Paso is still facing a critical staffing shortage.

According to a labor analysis report by the Texas Workforce Commission, there are 23,000 more unfilled jobs for registered nurses in Texas than there are job seekers looking to fill them.

Executive Director Wanda Helgesen of BorderRAC, said some nurses left the profession altogether to earn more money. Others left due to illness or concern of passing illnesses to their families - and for some, she said, it was the mental toll the pandemic caused.

To combat the shortage, Helgesen said BorderRAC has now provided additional staffing of about 266 healthcare workers, compared to the 1,400 they supplemented hospitals with at the peak of the surge last year.

According to Borderplex Region Workforce Development Director Alma Aranda, over the last 12 months El Paso has seen a total of 3,570 job openings for registered nurses.

“Even though the schools are producing more students, graduating more nursing students, there's not enough to fill all the vacancies that are happening not only in El Paso, but in Texas and throughout the United States,” said Aranda.

Helgesen added that along with hospitals offering sign-on bonuses to recruit qualified personnel, many are also working with schools of nursing to try to increase the enrollment to graduate future nurses.