CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board announced the creation of a Texas Healthcare Workforce Task Force earlier this month.
There will be 13 members on the task force, including healthcare experts and more from across the industry. According to Del Mar College, 64 experts from around Texas will serve as advisory members to the task force.
Two of those experts are from the Coastal Bend. They are faculty members in Del Mar's Nurse Education Department.
Both have years of experience in hospitals and now as teachers. They explained what issues they hope to address in the healthcare industry as task force advisory members.
"They're different challenges to fulfill nursing positions, whether it's in the hospital at the bedside, or even in academia here," Del Mar professor Dr. Mary Borchardt said.
With decades of experience in emergency rooms and in the Army Nurse Corps, Borchardt said she is excited to bring that experience to the task force.
She said problems in the healthcare industry can affect how many students enroll in Del Mar's nursing program and eventually enter the field. She explained what she hopes to bring to the task force.
"Contribute something positive and help with what these identified issues are," Borchardt said.
Sandra De Leon, an associate professor at Del Mar, will also represent the Coastal Bend as a task force advisory member. She previously worked in a pediatrics department at a Laredo hospital.
She said they will work with other advisors and discuss different barriers in healthcare.
"Work together and come up with different policies and opportunities to, kind of, help with the faculty, with nursing shortage nationwide, statewide," De Leon said.
She talked about the importance of nurses in healthcare, and said she is excited that Abbott created the task force to help.
"They're so important for our, you know, taking care of our health, our patients," she said. "It's so important that, you know, to kind of advocate for them."