Long Island nursing schools are turning away students as they struggle to find enough instructors, exacerbating an already serious nursing shortage, experts say.
A wide gap between what nurses can earn teaching compared with working in health care facilities is a key reason, nursing school deans say. Fewer nurses per patient leads to a greater chance of patient harm, research shows. David Olson reports on Newsday.com that nationwide, more than 78,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools in 2022, according to a May report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, which surveyed programs. The number of students in entry-level bachelor’s programs declined last year for the first time in 21 years, and declines continued for graduate and PhD students, the survey found. Those declines in nursing students studying for advanced degrees may make the nursing shortage even worse, said Robert Rosseter, spokesman for the association. Full-time nursing faculty typically must have a master’s or doctoral degree, so the declines mean a smaller pool of future potential instructors, he said.
“We always say if you’re going to address the nursing shortage, you have to also address the faculty shortage,” he said. “That’s the only way we’re going to fix the pipeline.”
All New York hospitals surveyed in 2022 by several hospital associations reported nursing shortages. A 2019 study published in the American Journal of Medical Quality predicted that New York would have a shortage of nearly 40,000 nurses by 2030.
Studies show that higher patient-to-nurse ratios lead to greater risk for patients, including death.
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Southampton Town recently scrapped two redevelopment proposals for a blighted Hampton Bays motel following pushback from community members who have won their quest to preserve a site that now appears destined to become a park. Joe Werkmeister reports on Newsday.com that the Southampton Town Board approved a resolution on Oct. 24 to cancel a request for proposals for the purchase and redevelopment of the Bel-Aire Cove Motel — which used to be low-income housing — on Shinnecock Road.
The decision, approved by a 5-0 vote, eliminates both choices the town presented earlier this year: a 16-unit senior housing condominium or a 12-unit condominium hotel in which owners would have bought the units that would have been used as rentals nine months a year.
The vote also leaves the town on the hook for a $1.2 million loan that was used to acquire the property, according to Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.
The board’s reversal comes more than a year after it issued a call for bids for the property's redevelopment in connection with the Hampton Bays Waterfront Revitalization Plan adopted in 2019.
In March of this year, residents crowded into town hall at a public hearing, many holding signs that read, “Save our bays,” “Protect our water” and “Option 3,” to urge the Southampton Town board to scrap both redevelopment proposals.
At the Oct. 24 meeting, the board separately approved a resolution to sign a $57,042 contract to hire LiRo Engineers, Inc. to handle asbestos removal at the site — an initial step toward demolition of the property's dilapidated structure.
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Polls will open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. tomorrow in elections for Suffolk County executive and Suffolk County legislatures and several other town and city races across Long Island.
Candice Ferrette reports on Newsday.com that to vote in-person on Election Day, you must be a registered voter and go to your designated polling site to cast a ballot. The locations of these sites are listed on the Suffolk County Boards of Election website.
All absentee ballots must be either postmarked or delivered in-person to the Suffolk County Board of Election by Tuesday to be counted. When the polls close on Tuesday night, officials will tabulate the votes cast tomorrow in addition to those cast during the early voting period that ended Sunday. In races with close results, absentee ballots will be counted and final tallies might not be known for another week.
Voters seeking to confirm their polling site locations can do so through the NYS Board of Elections https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/ or by calling the county board of election for more information. Suffolk voters should call 631-854-4500.
7:49am - 7:51am
Democrats still dominate New York, statewide, by most measures. But Republicans performed better than expected in 2021, harnessing concerns about rising prices and an uptick in crime to flip a handful of congressional swing seats a year later. To have any real shot at a House majority, Democrats need to win them back. Nicholas Fandos and Luis Ferré-Sadurní report in THE NY TIMES that recent polling by the Siena College Research Institute found that 84 percent of registered New York voters view the influx of migrants as a serious problem. Among suburban voters, majorities also disapproved of the way Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and President Biden — all Democrats — have handled the issue.
In Suffolk County, an area more populous than 11 states, Democrats say they see signs that the Republican fever-pitch of 2021 and 2022 has cooled, particularly around crime.
But strategists in both parties said Republicans were still well positioned to reclaim the county executive seat, putting them on the brink of a remarkable takeover of almost every major office on Long Island.
Edward P. Romaine, 76, the longtime Republican supervisor of Brookhaven, the county’s largest town, is running for county executive against Dave Calone, 50, a Democrat and former prosecutor and businessman who has never held elected office.
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A long-delayed plan to fix the storm-damaged East River Tunnels, used by the LIRR and other railroads, will begin next year with $1.3 billion in federal funding that will cover roughly the entire cost of the project, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Lorena Mongelli reports on Newsday.com that the new grant is part of the federal bipartisan infrastructure bill that will allow repairs to take place with minimal disruption to Long Island Rail Road commuters, said Schumer.
The project, which ballooned from Amtrak’s original estimate of $300 million to $1.6 billion, is expected to start next year and end in 2027.
The East River award follows two other federal infrastructure funding announcements made last week that together total about $8.5 billion.
During Superstorm Sandy in 2012, two of the four single-track underwater East River tubes were inundated with millions of gallons of corrosive saltwater that continues to damage infrastructure.
Opened in 1910, the tunnels connect Penn Station to points east, but also are used by NJ Transit and Amtrak, which owns and maintains them.
The projects will rebuild tracks 1 and 2 while making the tunnels more resilient to water and fire, Schumer said.
Drainage systems, signals and traction power also will be replaced and bench walls will be reconstructed, according to Amtrak.
“Long Island commuters can breathe a sigh of relief that the disruptions we saw in the past will not continue and that this tunnel will now be in good shape for decades to come,” Schumer told Newsday on Saturday.
All 453 trains that run through the tunnels will continue to run during the repair work, Schumer said.
