A meeting of nurses in the territory was called earlier this week to try and gauge how nurses can be called upon to take care of patients if COVID-19 spreads in the territory.
Director of Nursing at LBJ Hospital Simamao Tuatoo said the attendance was not as good as they planned probably because the meeting was not well publicized.
Nevertheless, the nurses who responded and attended the meeting from the VA Clinic, Department of Health, ASCC and some retired nurses expressed a willingness to help.
Tuato’o said the LBJ Hospital currently has 80 nurses, which is not even enough for a 150 bed hospital.
“We need another 80 to take care of the regular patients,” said Mrs Tuato’o adding that the hospital doesn’t have a nursing pool to draw from.
She said they’ll probably call another meeting to get a more accurate count of nurses who can be counted on to assist.
The Nursing Director said nurses who are not with LBJ Hospital now could be assigned to take care of the clinics and wards.
