Colorado Paying To Fix Crisis

Colorado is offering a hiring bonus of $14,000 to nurses to work in mental health facilities in an effort to fill nearly 200 open positions. Facilities located in Pueblo and Fort Logan in Denver can have as many as 100 beds open at a time but are not available to patients because of the lack of staff. Patients often remain in jails while they wait for a bed to open.  Colorado is one of the 5 states most in need of nurses, with an estimated shortage of 10,000 RNs by 2026, according to a Mercer study.