1/29/2008 9:41:00 AM Nursing shortage keeps mother, son in Omaha
Courtesy PhotoJesse Peetz of O’Neill — who was permanently disabled after he contracted viral spinal meningitis while a college student — would like to live in his hometown of O’Neill, with his father, Forrest, and other family members. But a shortage of nurses prevents him from doing so.
About the nursing shortage
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing states that the United States is in the midst of a nursing shortage that will only intensify as baby boomers age and the need for health care increases. The demand for registered nurses in Nebraska is projected to increase by 25 percent by 2020.
Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing colleges are struggling to expand enrollment levels to meet the rising demand.
What's more, a survey conducted in 2006 indicates that more than 55 percent of nurses will reach retirement age between 2011 and 2020.
O'NEILL - Jesse Peetz knows all about Nebraska's nursing shortage.
It's because the lack of nurses in the area has directly affected the young man's life.
A little more than two years ago, Jesse was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who was looking forward to spending time with his older brother, Jake, who was playing football for the Huskers, said his father, Forrest Peetz of O'Neill.
But on Sept. 24, 2006, the younger Peetz became ill and his brother rushed him to Children's Hospital in Omaha.
Jesse and his family were familiar with the hospital because Jesse previously had been treated there for what's known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, which is a rare disorder of the body's blood-coagulation system.
But this wasn't a recurrence of that disorder.
Within 24 hours of being admitted, Jesse was in intensive care and using a ventilator to breathe.
"He's been on a ventilator ever since," Forrest Peetz said.
After conducting a number of tests, doctors determined that viral spinal meningitis had ravaged Jesse's spinal cord, causing him to lose the use of all of his extremities.
He spent two weeks in Children's Hospital after which he was transferred to a number of rehabilitation hospitals, including Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., which specializes in helping people with spinal cord injuries.
Even though Jesse retained his cognitive and sensory abilities, it gradually became clear that physical rehabilitation was not going to happen, Forrest Peetz said.
So hospital personnel focused on teaching him to live with his disability. There, they taught him how to operate the wheelchair he uses from sunrise to sundown and to use the electronic devices that help him communicate - including his voice-activated computer and cell phone.
Then it was time to come home. And that's when the reality of the nursing shortage in Northeast and North Central Nebraska became evident.
"He wanted to come back to O'Neill," Forrest Peetz said of his son.
But try as he might, the elder Peetz could not find nurses in the area to care for his son - though he even made pleas over the radio hoping someone would come forward.
"It quickly became obvious that it wasn't going to work," he said.
So Jesse and his mother, Nancy, ended up moving to an apartment in Omaha where home-health nurses are available to provide the daily care he needs, which includes keeping his ventilator tube clean, feeding him through another tube that goes into his stomach and managing his medications.
Since then, other family members have helped out, and Jesse has lived in a number of care facilities. He spent from June to October of last year battling a recurrence of his blood disease and pneumonia.
Now he and his mother are back in an apartment in Omaha.
But Jesse would still like to come back to O'Neill.
His father, however, doesn't see that happening anytime soon.
He and the local health care facilities are competing for the same nurses, he said.
There just aren't enough to fill all the needs.
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Coming tomorrow: How a proposed new nursing division in Norfolk could help alleviate a nursing shortage for people like Jesse Peetz.
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Article comment by:
Forrest Peetz
Excellent article Sheryl. Thanks for getting the word out. The proposed Norfolk division can only help alleviate the nursing shortage in our area.
