Nursing board: Applications are up to date

The NMI Board of Nursing has hired an administrative assistant to address the needs of their office with regards to licensing applications.

According to board chair Bertha Camacho, the new staff assists office manager Carol Fleming in looking into the 150 to 200 applications that the Board processes every month.

“It helps to make sure that all of our applications are looked at in a timely manner. Missing documents can be identified. Communications is a big thing,” Camacho told Saipan Tribune, “Having her, she can deal with the correspondences.”

The BON office said it receives up to 160 emails per week.

The new administrative assistant, Esther Wabol, came on board last November. BON said they are now able to get back on track after the effects of Typhoon Soudelor and continues to move forward.

“Thank you to our board members and office manager for putting in the extra time and effort in clearing the backlog,” Camacho said.

BON said all processing of applications are up to date and current and regular meetings are resuming as scheduled.

Last October, Saipan Tribune received a handful of complaints from applicants who said they have been waiting for months for their applications to be processed and that BON doesn’t reply to their queries and messages.

Camacho clarified that some of the complaints was not true and that they have been in communication with the applicants.

“Every application is different in terms of what document may be missing and what nursing school was attended. This is why some applications may take longer to get reviewed and approved. Some nursing schools may need to go through a credentialing process, either by Commission on Graduates and Foreign Nursing Schools or another approved credentialing agency, if the nursing school is not on the list of approved schools,” Camacho said.

Asked if they will hire more staff to man their office, Camacho said “not at this moment.”

“Right now I think we pretty much caught up with applications so we don’t see the need to have another admin assistant right away,” Camacho said.

However, Camacho added that they are looking at moving to a bigger and more sufficient office space than their current office at the Commonwealth Health Center.

Camacho said their funds as a board is sufficient.

“So far, it is sufficient enough for the board to operate and to pay our two hired staff,” Camacho said.

Board officers
The board elected last Friday their set of officers.

Camacho was re-elected as the board chair this year. This will be her fourth term as chair since she served in 2007 to 2009 as well as last year.

Roca Sablan serves as the vice chair, Anna Diaz is secretary, while Rafaela Perry is treasurer. Aurelia Long from Tinian is a member.

BON said their volunteer members “have gone far and beyond their usual duties to review and approve National Council Licensure Examination applications in addition to reviewing and revising regulations and policies.”

“It is with pleasure and excitement that the NMI BON looks forward to the new year in serving the people of the CNMI in the most efficient and effective way through regulatory excellence,” Camacho said.