Nurses at the regional jail find a variety of challenges

“We’re having a terrible time keeping nurses,” said Fred Hildebrand, the center’s superintendent, at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center Authority’s February meeting. He asked for an additional nurse position, which authority members approved.

The nurses’ workload had increased 34 percent from the previous year, Hildebrand told the authority. Two of the nine nurse positions at that time were vacant. He said the jail has a difficult time recruiting nurses because, while the wages are competitive with comparable jobs, few nurses want to work behind bars