Of accountants, nurses, and golden eggs

Whatever happened to the CNMI Accountancy Board? The bill creating the board was signed into law on May 20, 2003, yet two years and two months later, we have yet to hear from the governor on the matter. When he signed the bill into law, Gov. Juan N. Babauta touted the measure as a potential gold mine for the Commonwealth, as it would allow the territory to administer the U.S. certified public accountant examination here, much like the way it now administers the NCLEX for foreign nurses.

Despite this, no members of the board have been appointed yet and we have not heard anything about what the CNMI is doing to secure the approval of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to administer the exam here. As I’ve mentioned before in this same space, the Accountancy Act is the goose just waiting for the right kick to lay the golden egg. It is up to this administration to render that needed kick.

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Meanwhile, here’s a piece of good news to the islands’ nurses. The VCampus Corp., a provider of Internet-based education, said it is planning to develop and deliver an online curriculum to support the continuing education of this country’s 2.7 million registered nurses and 1 million licensed practical/vocational nurses.

VCampus Corp. said in a statement that it has partnered with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing—of which the CNMI nursing board is a member—to make this online education possible so that the nation’s nursing candidates, nursing educators and practicing nurses can have access to the tools and information necessary to ensure continued professional development. These courses will provide continuing education credits.

The initial course, End-of-Life Care and Pain Management, which will focus on the needs of an aging population, is scheduled to launch in October 2004 and will be available through the NCSBN Learning Extension campus: http://www.learningext.com.

NCSBN is a not-for-profit organization whose membership comprises the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five United States territories—American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

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It’s been barely three weeks after Typhoon Tingting roared through the CNMI, yet some semblance of normalcy has been restored to the islands, thanks largely to the efforts put in by the work crews of different government agencies and volunteer groups who were out in full force barely a day after the typhoon made landfall on Saipan. Roads have been cleared, the sides of Beach Road—where all the flotsam and jetsam of the island ended up—have been cleaned up, and reconstruction efforts are in full swing. The speed with which the island cleaned up after the typhoon could also be credited to the people who made an effort to at least clean up their own backyards, leaving the larger work to the government agencies to handle. The Department of Public Works, its employees and student interns, Parks and Recreations, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and other groups ought to be commended for their efficient work. Paging the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council!

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People complaining about “misleading” stories that come out in the newspapers should first read the ENTIRE story before jumping to conclusions, and this applies to not just the readers of the Tribune or the Variety. Of course the papers make mistakes from time to time (either errors in fact or typographical errors) and readers should rightly call the attention of the newspaper concerned when such things happen. But to make an assumption based on just reading the first two or three paragraphs of a story breeds ill-formed opinions.

This comes to mind after some persons were reportedly ticked off at the article that came out in the Tuesday edition of this paper, entitled Tourist arrivals soar by 67.52 percent in June. They said the story is misleading in that one cannot compare June’s tourist arrivals to the figures posted during the same period last year as 2003 was not a normal year for travel due to SARS and the Iraq wars.

If these readers, however, had made the effort to read the fourth and fifth paragraph, it says: “It is important to note that this month’s [June 2004] arrivals compared to 2002 figures provide a more precise indication for the growth in visitor arrivals, MVA said. The 2003 figures could provide a distorted or misleading basis for comparison, as they reflect the impact of SARS, which caused a low arrival base.”

Enough said.

(The views expressed are strictly that of the author. Vallejera is the editor of the Saipan Tribune.)