[COMMUNICATED] A young frum woman from out of town gets discharged from a hospital near Lakewood needing a very specific form of manual respiratory help. Alone, not sure where to turn, she just wants to resume life and keep her lungs working.

A large health care company opens a Lakewood location. They are desperate for local Registered Nurses to fill their staffing needs, but have no idea how to find multiple nurses in a short period of time.

A medically fragile baby is finally discharged home after three long months in the NICU, and is eligible for 16 hours a day of private duty nursing. The youngest of a large family, he is dependent on his nurse to provide feedings through his feeding tube, monitor his oxygen levels and prepare and give his many medications. For three consecutive days, his scheduled nurses do not show up. The family is on the brink of collapse and is desperate for some much needed rest and respite. Not sure where to turn, the family just wants to be able to appreciate their little miracle for what he is and resume normal life.

A frum Lakewood girl graduates nursing school at the top of her class. She sends out her resume to over forty prospective employers, but nothing materializes. After five months of frustration and disappointment, she just wants a nursing job that could utilize her talent, ambition, and professional license.

A heavy snowstorm blankets Lakewood, leaving the town immobilized. An elderly man living with his children has a feeding tube that gets clogged. With no means of getting to a doctor, the family is desperate for a skilled professional to declog the tube so as to be able to avoid a challenging and potentially dangerous trip to the emergency room.

The scenarios are endless. People in their most vulnerable moments of illness or injury often find themselves in critical need of skilled nursing. Nurses graduate school or move to Lakewood and are desperate for a specific job that will fit in with their lifestyle. Many local healthcare companies have a dire need for Registered Nurses to fill their staffing needs.

They all turn to Nurses Network of Lakewood for help, and the results are remarkable.

Nurses Network of Lakewood (NNL) is a domestic non-profit corporation in Lakewood, NJ, founded in 2009 with the purpose of promoting networking amongst nurses in the community. The objectives include job placement, career support and social events. NNL Inc also provides many services to our community such as volunteering, referrals, teaching and training. Our nurses’ specialties include hospital nursing, home care, school nursing, advance practice nursing, obstetrics and much more. With an ever growing database, which currently numbers over two hundred local nurses, the networking results have been extraordinary. Over the past year, Nurses Network has connected more than fifty appropriate candidates to their current employment. They have serviced countless individuals in the volunteer capacity ranging from fertility injections, wound care, hospice, infusion assistance, diabetic care and more. Networking has also allowed nurses access to information regarding continuing education options including CEUs, RN to BSN and graduate nursing programs.

For many nurses, the key feature of Nurses Network’s services is the Annual Event. At this social gathering, nurses get to interact on a personal level with many others in the same profession.

The featured promotional items and literature at the events provide exposure to job opportunity information in an appealing, informative manner. The program includes a hot buffet donated by the event sponsors, a keynote speaker, roundtable introductions, and many other interactive activities.

Another program feature for the Nurses Network event is the “Nurse of the Year” nomination. While all nurses are heroes due to the nature of their job, this nurse has been selected for going above and beyond. Other features will in include instant raffles, access to multiple opportunities and more.

With an expected participation of close to one hundred nurses, this monumental event will bring many gains to the nurses, health care companies, and ultimately to the Lakewood community.

The theme of this year’s upcoming melava malka event taking place on December 17th, is “Taking it to the Next Level”. Nurses have infinite ways of elevating their career to a higher level whether it be in a spiritual capacity, utilizing the multiple professional opportunities that may present themselves, and more. On a spiritual level, merely by the nature of the job of helping the vulnerable is in itself a chesed. But then, there are those unbelievable unsung heroes, such as the dozens of nurses that give fertility injections on a regular basis at no cost, the nurses who go out under the most challenging conditions such as erev yom tov, in inclement weather, or late at night to provide a skilled service, nurses that educate a patient or family in how to be independent under difficult circumstances, that take nursing and chesed to a whole new level… In the professional realm, the opportunities for advancing a nursing career are endless. Whether it is furthering a nursing degree to the bachelors, masters or graduate level, or filling a unique niche in the spectrum of the scope of nursing specialties, taking nursing to the professional next level is very likely in this distinct field. Another dimension of taking nursing to the next level is in the Kiddush Hashem capacity. Many businesses, healthcare facilities and physicians have said that they prefer frum nurses because there is a distinctive notable trademark of work ethic, these nurses work harder, are most honest, and are extremely devoted to the care they provide.

Nurses Network of Lakewood would like to take this opportunity to thank the event sponsors; Bayada Pediatrics, Star Pediatrics, Leisure Chateau, Chemed Health Center, Centers Plan for Healthy Living and Towne nursing. Nurses Network would also like to thank Bikur Cholim of Lakewood and Chesed of Lakewood for working together to assist the community in times of need.

All the services Nurses Network of Lakewood provides to its nurses as well as the vendors assisted, is done by nurses, for nurses, free of charge.

The event is open to all frum female licensed RNs.

For more information and for sponsorship opportunities, please email [email protected]