Molina Healthcare of Washington recently celebrated the launch of the first-ever Western Washington Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). The networking event was an opportunity for Hispanic/Latino nursing students to meet with Hispanic/Latino nurses and health care professionals.
Nearly 30 participants attended the event, which was held at El Alazán Restaurant in Auburn.
“We’re thrilled to be able to support the launch of the new local chapter of NAHN,” said Roland Feltner, M.D., lead physician for Molina Medical Group. “Given our country’s nursing shortage, especially among Hispanic nurses, we believe supporting organizations like NAHN will help to solve this issue in near future.”
The event gave students the opportunity to meet face to face with local Hispanic/Latino nurses and learn more about the profession. Molina Healthcare of Washington also raffled off several free NAHN memberships and book scholarships for two nursing students. Those recipients were Rosendo Cruz, book scholarship winner and nursing student, and Gabriel Gonzalez, book scholarship winner and nursing student.
Currently, the United States is facing a large nursing shortage. The country needs more than 135,000 nurses, but government officials say that number will increase to more than one million by 2020. Only 16.8 percent of all registered nurses in the U.S. are minorities and only 3.6 percent of those nurses are Hispanic/Latino.
About National Association of Hispanic Nurses
The National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), founded in 1975 by Ildaura Murillo-Rohde, PhD, RN, ND, FAAN, is a non-profit professional association established with the dual mission of providing equal access to educational, professional and economic opportunities for Hispanic nurses and of improving the quality of health and nursing care of Hispanic consumers.
About Molina Healthcare
Molina Healthcare, Inc., provides quality and cost-effective Medicaid-related solutions to meet the health care needs of low-income families and individuals and to assist state agencies in their administration of the Medicaid program. Its licensed health plans in California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin currently serve more than 1.6 million members, and its subsidiary, Molina Medicaid Solutions, provides business processing and information technology administrative services to Medicaid agencies in Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, and West Virginia, and drug rebate administration services in Florida. More information about Molina Healthcare is available at www.molinahealthcare.com.
