CNMI nurses lack funds for 31st APNLC Conference
The CNMI Nursing Association needs financial support so it could host the 31st Conference of the American Pacific Nursing Leaders Council in June.
Bertha P. Camacho, vice president of the CNMI Nursing Association, spoke before members of the Rotary Club of Saipan yesterday to solicit support for the conference, which is hosted via a 10-year rotation among member jurisdictions.
Guam hosted the last event in 1999.
Hyatt Regency Saipan will be the venue for this year’s conference on June 15-19 and up to 200 participants from all over the region are expected to attend.
Camacho said they have been actively raising fund for this event but the economic climate has not allowed them to reach their goals and are seeking everyone’s help.
“Any financial support to fund this event will significantly contribute to the efforts of these nursing leaders in Pacific jurisdictions to improve nursing-related health care functions,” she said.
Camacho said the shortage of nurses threatens the future of the world’s health care system so the main goal of the upcoming conference would be to address this.
The two main objectives, Camacho said, are to empower nurses and to create stronger community support.
“In an effort to address these ongoing and possibly worsening issues, nursing leaders and key team players have researched and identified strategies that can relieve these burdens and hopefully reverse this nursing shortage trend,” Camacho stressed.
Participants will come from American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia (Ponpei, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Yap), Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands (Ebeye and Majuro), Palau and the CNMI. For the first time, Japan will also be joining the event.
The conference aims to discuss problems confronting nursing in the American Pacific Basin, among other issues.
Camacho said this would also provide a venue for nurses to share their expertise with their counterparts in the region.
She said participants would develop and implement strategic plans and take a stand on health care issues affecting their jurisdictions.
Besides two full days of continuing education for participants, there will be nursing recruitment session as well as a business meeting for APNLC officers.
“We hope to see participants who deal with recruitment of nurses to attend the education session on ‘Recruitment and Retention Strategies of Nurses in the CNMI,’” Camacho said.
Some of the agencies and organizations that will participate include the U.S. Department of the Interior, World Health Organization, Pacific Resources Education Laboratory, Pacific Islands Health Officers Association and the Department of Health Services from around the region.
There are about 50 members of the CNMI Nursing Association.