'INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY:' Munson to hire up to 200 nurses from Philippines

Jul. 21—TRAVERSE CITY — Munson Healthcare announced plans to hire up to 200 nurses from the Philippines over the next three years to help address critical staffing needs.

Most of those new hires will work at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, officials said, especially in the area of orthopedics, post-surgical care and telemetry.

Telemetry nurses specialize in monitoring and caring for patients who require continuous cardiac and vital sign monitoring, but do not typically require intensive or critical care.

"Over the last several years, we've experienced a significant nursing shortage, particularly with the impact of COVID," said Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Standfest. "This is not just a Munson issue — it's a nationwide issue.

"We lost nurses due to retirements, career changes and burnout during the pandemic."

"This new international strategy is another tool in our toolbox to address that shortage," Standfest said. "Our plan is to supplement our great team with trained, certified nurses from the Philippines so we can continue to provide exceptional care to the communities we serve. It's definitely a win-win solution."

The nursing shortage in northern Michigan is significant.

Munson currently has 230 open nursing positions across the system and about 75 percent of those are at the Traverse City medical center, according to spokesman Brian Lawson.

Overall, Munson Healthcare employs about 2,300 nurses at eight community hospitals serving 29 counties in northern Michigan. About half of those nurses work at Munson Medical Center, which is the largest single employer in Grand Traverse County.

OVERSEAS RECRUITING

A team of three Munson nursing leaders will visit six locations in the Philippines this November to meet with potential nursing hires, all of whom must meet Munson standards for training and experience.

Munson's recruiting partner in the Philippines is Southeast Asian Placement Center, Inc., better known as SEAPCI. Founded in 1971, SEAPCI specializes in recruiting Filipino nurses and other medical professionals for overseas employment. Its clients include Johns Hopkins hospitals in Maryland and the Henry Ford Health system in Michigan.

"Our contacts at Henry Ford are very satisfied with the nurses they've hired through (SEAPCI)," said Shelley Spencer, Munson's chief human resources officer. "We also consulted with hospitals in Orlando and upstate New York."

Proficiency in speaking English is a key advantage for Filipino nurses, she added, as well as the high quality of training that nurses now receive in places such as Manilla and Cebu City.

The Philippines is a nation of 116 million people who live on a sprawling archipelago of 7,641 islands in the western Pacific. The capital of Manilla is located about 8,000 miles from Traverse City. Most Filipinos speak a combination of English and regional languages such as Tagalog.

The United States formally "acquired" the Philippines from Spain in December 1898 in the wake of the Spanish-American War. The country gained independence on July 4, 1946, shortly after World War II.

VISAS, TRAINING AND HOUSING

All Filipino nurses coming to Munson will need to qualify for the EB-3 visa program, which enables nurses and other skilled professionals to work in the U.S. as permanent residents while progressing toward full citizenship.

Each year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issues about 40,000 EB-3 visas, according to a guide from the federal government.

To be eligible, visa applicants must meet minimum education and/or job experience requirements. Obtaining a work authorization typically takes 90-120 days from the date of application, although it can stretch into many months depending on each case.

"We aren't looking for seasonal staff — we really want these nurses to move here, get their green cards and become part of our community," Spencer said, noting that Munson also will work with U.S. Embassy officials in Manilla and the Philippines Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Once they arrive in Traverse City, the nurses will go through an extensive "front-end training and onboarding" process, Standfest said.

For example, each nurse will be taught the values, processes and medical care standards used at Munson, both in classrooms and in on-the-job environments.

They'll also be assigned a preceptor (instructor) and be tested for competency levels.

In terms of compensation, Filipino nurses will receive the same pay and benefits as any other registered nurse, Standfest said.

Overcoming the high cost of housing in the Traverse City area is a continuing challenge for hospital administrators.

To address that hurdle, Munson is working with a wide variety of housing providers, rental agents and developers.

The hope is to provide a common location for most of the Filipino nurses with a plan to hire about 200 over a three-year period.

Co-located housing also could help the nurses adjust to the culture, weather and traditions of northern Michigan, Standfest said, adding that there's already a Filipino food truck business serving the area.

NURSING UNION RESPONDS

Local members of the Traverse City Munson Nurses Association responded positively to the news about the new hiring plan, largely because it could help ease chronic staffing shortages at the main medical center.

"We obviously look forward to bringing any nurse in to help us deliver safe levels of care to our patients," said TCMNA President Shannon Gillespie, BSN. "We've lost hundreds of nurses across the (Munson) system in the last several years."

"I believe the pandemic did exacerbate the burnout situation for some nurses, but I also think Munson could do a better job at retaining nurses already on staff, particularly with bedside nursing staff," Gillespie said. "A newly recruited nurse can get a bonus, but a nurse who's been on staff for 30 years doesn't."

Besides retention bonuses, Gillespie said it would help boost retention if nurses were allowed sick time off without it impacting their vacation allotment.

Asked how the rank-and-file nurse at Munson would react to an influx of Filipino nurses, he said most would welcome it.

"I've had nothing but positive experiences with Filipino nurses," Gillespie said. "Adding more staffing will help, for sure."

In March 2023, Munson nurses signed a new three-year contract that provides an average 16-percent raise for nurses at the main medical center, while also addressing staffing, recruitment and safety standards.

The most experienced nurses could be making more than $50 per hour by 2026.

In addition to wage increases, the new contract will create a new committee to create staffing guidelines for the Medical Center to follow.

That committee will include nurses as some of its members.