health care workers

A new executive director for Healthcare Services has taken the reins at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, and she’ll be taking on huge budget overages when it comes to inmate health care. Using traveling nurses to cover inmates' needs is costing the jail millions of dollars.

New Mexico has been facing a shortage of thousands of health care workers for years, and during a presentation to lawmakers last week, the Legislative Finance Committee said it will be even worse five years from now.

Representatives of the New Mexico Medical Society recently spoke to state lawmakers about a growing issue in the state: Attracting and retaining medical providers. KUNM's Daniel Montaño reports the state’s short about 5,000 health care workers.

The United Health Professionals of New Mexico rallied outside University of New Mexico Hospital’s Sandoval Regional Medical Center on Monday calling for a 3% raise that every other employee received.

While the national nursing shortage may be easing, vacancies still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic numbers, according to a study from Nursing Solutions Inc. In New Mexico, the most recent data showed 9,000 RN job postings in the state as of last summer. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center has announced it’s set to receive millions in federal funds to address the gap, particularly in rural areas.

We devote episode 52 to some of the many people working on the front lines of the pandemic caring for COVID patients in New Mexico, sometimes without…