Let the bidding begin.

With two new hospitals due to open in Boulder County and two major additions up and running, health care administrators already are scrambling to fill positions amid one of the worst nursing shortages in the nation.

Local employers are showering nurses and other clinical staff with higher salaries and better benefits to keep the competition from luring them away. Recruiters are flying across the country to sell new grads on the benefits of living in Boulder. And all eyes are on the statehouse, where lawmakers are rushing to introduce bills aimed at growing the pool of nurses.

Meanwhile, many fear that the staffing shortage — expected to get worse due to an unprecedented hospital construction boom — may be putting patients in danger.

"There is always a concern that if you do not have enough nursing staff, you will not get the care you need," says Paula Stearns, executive director of the Colorado Nurses Association. "Every nurse I know is dedicated to doing the very best they can, but there are not enough of them."

In July, the Colorado Department of Labor reported no less than 1,660 vacancies for registered nurses in the Denver Metropolitan area.

At the time of this writing, Boulder Community Hospital had 32 nursing positions open; Longmont United and Avista Adventist each had 13.

Those numbers may not seem so grim. But things could change radically when Exempla Healthcare opens its 143-bed facility in Lafayette in late 2004. The hospital will be seeking a staff of between 800 and 850 employees, roughly half of whom will be clinical staff, such as nurses, pharmacists and radiology technicians. The hospital will be seeking between 200 and 250 registered nurses.

"Are we concerned? Absolutely, yes," says Margaret Van Cleave, vice president of Boulder Community Hospital. "We are concerned because the easiest place for Exempla to recruit from is the surrounding hospitals."

In addition to looking for people to fill its current positions, Boulder Community soon will be seeking 75 to 100 people to staff its new 54-bed Foothills Hospital, scheduled to open in September. Roughly 60 percent of those positions are for nursing and other clinical positions.

"Those are just as much of a crucial shortage as nursing is," says Janice Blankenship, director of personnel for Boulder Community Hospital. "We have had some of our radiology positions posted for eight months."

Boulder Community is currently paying full tuition to help 50 employees continue their education, either for

nursing or radiology. In return, those people will be asked to promise to work there for at least two years.

Officials at Boulder Community, Avista and Longmont United all say they have made salary adjustments to assure they stay competitive.

A registered nurse in Boulder County makes, on average, between $19 and $25 per hour.

Boulder Community also offers $500 bonuses to employees who help attract new people. It even offers discounted massage.

"It is an excellent time to be a nurse in Boulder County," Blankenship says. "They are in very high demand."

Exempla's chief executive officer, David Hamm, declined to share the hospital's strategies for recruiting people, from in-state or beyond. But one advantage that hospital will have over some of its Boulder competitors is a plethora of fairly affordable housing, close to work.

And Exempla is not the only looming concern for area hospital administrators.

This summer, the 106-bed Sky Ridge Medical Center is set to open in Douglas County; next year, the 101-bed Parker Adventist Hospital is set to open in Arapahoe County; and in 2006, Poudre Valley Health System expects to open a 115-bed regional hospital in Loveland.

By 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Colorado will be short 4,235 nurses; by 2015, that number will soar to 10,024.

Earlier this month, Colorado lawmakers introduced HB 1284, a bill aimed at increasing the pool of new graduates by requiring local nursing schools to raise enrollment and lower the credit-hour requirements for nursing education. The bill was defeated after hordes of nurses called the statehouse expressing their concern.

Stearns says something must be done, but lowering standards is notthe answer.

"In this day and age of increasing technology, no one feels comfortable decreasing educational requirements," she says.

Contact Lisa Marshall at marshalll@dailycamera.com or (303) 473-1357.