Torres stresses ‘great’ role of nurses during pandemic

Stressing that nurses play a great role in the CNMI’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and for the success of healthcare program, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said they are following up with U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia to expedite the processing of petitions to renew the 17 nurses and one radiologic technologist whose CNMI-Only Transitional Worker permits have expired.

During a radio news briefing last Friday, Torres said he has not gotten a response yet from Scalia, but that their contact in Washington, D.C. will be following that up.

Torres said they tried to reach out to see how the CNMI can help all the nurses at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.

“They do play a great role on the success of the healthcare and I hope that we can get a response soon and have our nurses stay on island and perhaps also acknowledge that we need additional nurses,” the governor said.

Torres said he continues to support the nursing program.

“I hope that this also gives an opportunity for our local capacity to understand how important and how critical that the occupation place the safety of our community,” he said.

The governor hopes they can get a favorable response from Scalia very soon.

Despite a nationwide shortage of nurses particularly during the global fight against COVID-19 pandemic, federal authorities have denied the Temporary Labor Certifications for CHCC’s petitions to renew the CW-1 permits of the 17 licensed practical nurses and one radiologic technologist. Their CW-1 permits expired last Sept. 15.

CHCC, meanwhile, is looking for other ways that they can hold onto the 18 healthcare workers who were denied of Temporary Labor Certifications, while they petition for a more permanent status.

In an interview, CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña said that they are looking into tourist visas for the healthcare workers. Additionally, chief operation officer Subroto Banerji said because the workers have been on the island for the longest time, CHCC doesn’t want to separate them from their families who are on the island.

Muña said that the healthcare workers—13 licensed practical nurses on Saipan, four LPNs assigned to Tinian Health Center, and a radiologic technologist employed at the Rota Health Center—can stay in the CNMI for six months if they are granted tourist visas.

Muña confirmed that they have submitted a request for the tourist visas last Sept. 21, and they are waiting for a decision. That’s not the only visa they are looking into, Muña said that there are other visas they are exploring as well. As of now, the healthcare workers can stay until Sept. 25.

Though things are not official, Muña said they are working with a law firm in Guam to process this request. She said they cannot work at CHCC with tourist visas, but they can use their “leave” while they are here on island.

“But if we get them processed to work too, it will help address the workforce issues that we have been expressing over the years,” Muña said.

Additionally, the healthcare workers have expressed their intention to stay on the island. Muna also expressed concern because of what is going on in their home country of the Philippines, and that they want to be here with their families.

As of Tuesday, the Philippines has a total of 286,743 COVID-19 cases, with over 3,000 new cases reported every day since Sept. 8.