Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.

Green card logjam keeps international nurses out of U.S.

By now, Kenneth Hegna should be working as an operating room nurse at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in West Tennessee, where he was offered a job nearly two years ago.

But a massive backlog among international nurses applying for permanent resident cards means he and his family can't leave the Philippines. "It's frustrating," Hegna, 35, said in a long-distance telephone call from his home country in Southeast Asia. "I want to provide a good future for my family."

While he waits, the husband and father has been working as a registered nurse at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City in the Philippines. Hegna is among 700 nurses whom Franklin-based Health Care Corporation of America International is primed to bring to U.S. hospitals but can't because of a government slowdown in processing green cards. Green cards allow internationals to set up permanent residence here through employment or as a family member of another legal resident or citizen. Click this link to read full article 4/26/09 TENNESSEAN

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