Although the swine flu did not spread as rapidly as some predicted it would, imagine if it did.

In fact, imagine if it was even worse than any of us could have imagined and that it was spreading across the world and killing in a flash, and getting the illness meant a dismal chance of survival, much like that of the Spanish flu pandemic of the early 1900s.

Obviously, a pandemic like this would have many flooding into hospitals trying to seek care and get a vaccination if they were still not afflicted with the illness.

With a projected shortage of 80,000 nurses by the year 2010, we cannot allow nursing students to wait any longer to be able to get out into the workforce.

With the waitlist long enough to put students on hold for a year before they are allowed to take the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) to get into the nursing program, the delay and the necessity for nurses will only become more serious.

There are also far too many students who need to take the same classes nursing majors need and there are not enough professors to teach them all, only lengthening the amount of time it will take nursing majors to enter the program. This is especially true since projected budget cuts are expected to severely curtail current and future class availability, therefore making it even more difficult for nursing students to take their necessary prerequisites.

Not only that, but with economic problems hitting our schools and hospitalsand they are struggling to stay open while being low on staff and money.

Now, it is not a far cry to wonder if the nursing program will be hit next by budget cuts. The nursing program costs much more to maintain than a normal program, such as mathematics.

Although it seems extreme in such a desperate economic time, perhaps what needs to be done is to provide special classes for nursing majors to take so that it can be ensured that there will be enough room for them to take the classes they need.

The focus needs to be put on the needs of the students and, considering the demand for nurses, it will pay off in the long run. EC should seriously consider expanding its nursing program and therefore, attract more students interested in the nursing field.

Students cannot be expected to wait for a year just to get into a program, especially if they have worked hard to get all their prerequisites. Their prerequisites are all difficult classes, and all of them are done so they can pursue their goal.

This is not just a matter of getting people out into the workforce, rather it is important to recognize the effort put into taking the classes and preparing for the program.

While being a nursing major is not quite the same as any other, it’s not fair that they have to do what is expected of them only to wait and see if they will get to move on to the next step.

After all, those with any other major would no doubt be upset that they could not move on.

Also, there are probably problems with some applications that take months to catch, so the student has to have it sent back to them so they can fix it and wait even longer to take the TEAS test.

Putting students on a long waitlist hurts the students, because the longer we keep students out of the program, the longer it will take them to graduate and get a job.

If nurses are in such high demand, they should be treated as though they were in high demand and given priority.

We cannot afford to dawdle because the desperate need for nurses will only get worse unless we get as many people into the program as we can and try to get nurses through the process as quickly and smoothly as possible.

If something is not done to remedy this laborious process, perhaps someday this will truly become a matter of life and death.

-See related article on Page 1