Iowa nurses are joining in the call for Congressional action on a package that’d provide federal loans and scholarships for nursing students. Iowa Nursing Association president LaVone Sopher of Sioux City says it’s critical for recruiting new nurses.Sopher says over three thousand nurses will reach retirement age in two years. Iowa’s older population increases the demand for nurses as they need more care. Sopher says Iowa’s nursing shortage is widespread across the state, in urban and rural areas.A November 2000 survey found Iowa hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities had 26-hundred nursing vacancies.
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