In two years and with a little help from the state, Deborah Frank will have repaid her student loans from nursing school.
Frank, a licensed practical nurse at the Manteno Veterans Home for the last 12 years, is one of the first to participate in the state’s new loan repayment program aimed at recruiting and retaining more nurses to work at Illinois’ four veterans’ homes.
Under the Veterans Home Nurse Loan Repayment Program, the state has set aside $1.22 million so it can offer qualifying nurses grants up to $5,000 annually over four years to repay education loans.
The incentive should help the state better compete with private hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that all are trying to find and keep qualified nurses in a shrinking pool of candidates, according to Jessica Woodward, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
For Frank, a single mother of two who lives near St. Anne, the incentive program will help her pay about $4,500 she owes in student loans.
“Every little bit helps,” she said.
Frank and another nurse at Manteno have applied for the incentive program so far, and Administrator Marty Downs hopes others will do the same.
Downs wants to hire three registered nurses by the end of January and said the loan repayment program makes the veterans home more competitive with other health care providers. Illinois has veterans homes in Manteno, La Salle, Quincy and Anna.
Like many states, Illinois needs more nurses, and that shortage is expected to grow.
At the end of November, there were 28,047 LPNs, 159,154 registered nurses and 6,095 advanced practice nurses licensed in Illinois, according to Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
It has been estimated by 2010, Illinois’ nursing shortage will reach 8,000 when it comes to RNs and 12,000 for LPNs. By 2020, the state’s overall nursing shortage will reach 21,000 workers, Hofer said.
In 2006, the state created the Illinois Center for Nursing to come up with ways to boost the number of nurses in Illinois. So far, the state has streamlined the licensing process, worked with hospitals and nursing homes about overtime requirements and rewritten the state nursing act to better define the duties of different nursing classifications, Hofer said.
The higher demand for nurses has meant a more competitive job market with potential employers offering everything from loan repayment incentives to signing bonuses.
“At this point it’s a competition almost,” Hofer said. “Who’s giving you the best deal to come work for them?”
Gloria Bouxsein, dean of the Health Professions program at Illinois Valley Community College, said it’s not unusual for hospitals to pay the nursing school tuition of students who agree to work there afterward.
IVCC’s nursing program has about 50 to 60 graduates each year and the majority end up going to work at six area hospitals, Bouxsein said. Jobs at long-term care facilities and the state veterans homes typically have been less sought after, she said.
State funding issues can impact veterans homes such as the one in La Salle and that can make them less attractive to job hunters, Bouxsein said. For example, plans to staff an 80-bed expansion at the La Salle home have been tied up in an ongoing funding fight in Springfield, she said.
As far as recruiting, the La Salle home has two direct care nursing staff positions open while the Manteno home has eight positions available and is in the process of filling two, Woodward said.
A number of nurses working at the La Salle home also are filing applications for the new loan program, which are administered through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Woodward said.
Information and applications for the Veterans Home Nurse Repayment Program can be found at www.collegezone.com or at the state’s four veterans homes.
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