The COVID-19 pandemic was a testament to the fact that healthcare workers play a quintessential role in the sustenance and development of the healthcare industry. The impact endured by healthcare providers in terms of the pandemic being an evident threat to their staff and the subsequent shortage of the medical workforce, was grievously significant.
Considering the same, healthcare service providers transitioned towards leveraging the solutions offered by staffing companies, with the intent of possessing a flexible workforce. Being the experts in recruiting the right talent, staffing companies cater to every manpower-related need of their clients, to address deficiency in skills or at times, shifting demand in skilled staff.
This edition titled, 10 Most Trusted Healthcare Staffing Companies 2021, emphasizes on bringing into spotlight, companies that have ceaselessly delivered expert staffing solutions to associated healthcare facilities and service providers. And one prominent name among such companies is RN Express Staffing Registry, LLC.
Established in 2009, RN Express Staffing Registry is a healthcare staffing agency based in New York. The company is a provider of qualified and skilled healthcare personnel in the industry. The company’s mission is to deliver excellent healthcare services to all ages by providing experienced, competent, specialized, and highly skilled staff – trained to meet the increasing demands of the medical industry.
RN Express aims to provide and maintain ongoing high standard quality of care and client satisfaction. Its vision has always been to be recognized as one of the prestigious providers in the delivery of the finest healthcare services in the United States.
The company was founded by three exceptional women, Sally Nuñez, the President and CEO; Maria Lea Batomalaque, the VP for Marketing; and Florida Lucas, the VP for Finance/Chief Finance Officer – who are also nurses by profession with over 100 years of combined experiences in the medical field.
“We personally give our time and enthusiasm to teach nurses, especially the ones who are just starting their career in nursing, an in-depth account of the nurses’ functions and expectations from them on the field,” the trio expresses.
The team at RN Express educates the recruits with a strong focus on basic documentation and competencies in nursing especially in the long-term care setting and ensure that they can support the recruits’ career development once they are deployed in the company’s partner facilities. “We live by the values of gratitude, empathy, humility, and kindness, which is the heart of our organization,” says the team.
Redefining Excellence
Having been established and run by nurses is one of RN Express’ biggest advantages in the industry and the company knows the needs and concerns of both ends: the healthcare professional and the hospitals and facilities. The team at RN Express works to match its nurses with the right healthcare facilities, and train them themselves.
“We transition our clinicians from nursing school to the first step in their career and help them with their career development by working with the Directors of Nursing in our partner facilities to encourage and advance them into nursing leaders,” says the team. Aside from this, the team continues to offer competitive salary and develop a comprehensive benefits package with their future in mind, so their time with RN Express is not wasted.
The team is also extensively mindful of its customer service. It believes, most clinicians, once they are deployed to their respective facilities, say that they do not know who to contact in case they encounter problems on the job, or worse, no one responds to their call. This is never the case for RN Express’ healthcare professionals. “We take pride in always communicating with them, as well as with our partner facilities and hospitals,” the team asserts.
To guarantee that RN Express’ operations meet the standard acceptable practices in the US, every two years the company is certified by the Joint Commission, a non-profit organization that evaluates policies and procedures in the healthcare industry that ensures safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.
RN Express also values its corporate social responsibility through the Saleaflor Foundation (derived from the owners’ names, Sally, Lea, and Florida). It ensures that giving back to the local community is always included in its plans and programs. Through this medium, RN Express also supports and collaborates with other organizations.
Setting Benchmarks
The prominent services delivered by RN Express Staffing Registry include:
- Staffing Assistance – Started to solely provide staffing assistance to nursing homes across Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx in 2010, the company has then expanded to have presence in over 30 nursing homes in New York. The company’s partnership with AMN also enabled it to provide clinicians to the Presbyterian Groups of Hospitals, and in 2018 it partnered with the vendor management of New York City Health and Hospitals, Vizient (MedAssets Performance Management Solutions, Inc.), and in 2020 with RightSourcing. The company now delivers nurse staffing all over New York, including Staten Island, Long Island, and upstate, along with:
- Homecare Services
- Hospice Services
- Visiting Nurses
- Allied Healthcare Services
- Auxiliary Services
- Immigration Program – Aside from providing employment for those who encounter difficulties in finding a nursing job, RN Express’ commitment to help foreign nurses is one of the most rewarding services that it offers. The company’s business can provide opportunities to aspiring, qualified nurses outside the US to fulfill their American dream to work and live in this country. This is one of the best contributions it has in filling the gap of shortage of nurses.
- Mobile App Staffing Solution – ‘BackApp’ originated from the word ‘Back-up’, which means ‘to support’. It is an additional service by RN Express Staffing to its contracted facilities that will provide 24/7 staffing solution. To know more about this, visit the company’s website at rnexpressregistry.com
The Guiding Lights
Sally, Lea and Florida are known as RN Express’ ‘power trio’. The company believes that they are more than capable of running the agency as they have worked hand in hand for years to build a name in the healthcare industry in New York. It is with the founders’ experience that the associated healthcare workers are personally trained by these veteran nurses which make them stand out from the rest in terms of training, experience, and work ethics as they are trained one-on-one before being deployed to various healthcare facilities.
Here’s what the founders have to say about their experiences and roles at RN Express Staffing Registry:
Sally Nuñez, the President and CEO:
My 23 years of clinical experience started in 1991 when I entered the US and became a floater nurse, then a Charge Nurse, and after a few years, a Head Nurse. Though I was not fully confident at that time, I rose to the challenge and eventually became a Nursing Supervisor.
In 2013, I decided to pursue RN Express full-time. To see through the potential of the company my partners and I established, I sacrificed the nursing career that I love to do and focused my time and energy here.
My experience both as an employee and an employer in the past 30 years here in New York gives me the balance of making decisions in terms of what is important in the company’s operations.
Being a nurse and running a business, my heart is always set on the quality of the services, while the business side of RN Express is perfectly handled by our Administrators, Mr. Alexander Alejandrino and Mrs. Nimfa Gregorios, and our AVP for Finance, Mrs. Aida Duran. Their respective backgrounds in management, operations, and finance enables the company to perform to its fullest potential as they oversee the execution of the day-to-day tasks.
Together, we share the same vision, and we take pride in our meaningful contribution to our clients’ operations and organizational efficiency that gives us a sense of wholeness and accomplishment. That is what it means to work in RN Express.
Maria Lea Batomalaque, VP for Marketing
I came to NYC in March of 1990. This was the start of my nursing career here in the US. From this date till I left the bedside in late 2017, I should say I had a ‘taste’ of the different fields and responsibilities of nursing in both long-term care and acute care settings. I have navigated myself from a Staff Nurse, a Charge Nurse, a Head Nurse, a Nursing Supervisor, a Medicare Special Project Coordinator and a certified MDS coordinator in long-term care.
With about over 20 years of seasoned nursing experience both personally and professionally, I am happy to open up opportunities for my fellow nurses especially those who just graduated from nursing school and couldn’t find employment due to lack of clinical experience.
RN Express helps them develop their skills, further their knowledge and boost their self confidence in the absence of clinical experience. We encourage our nurses to learn from their mistakes, grow from their experience, love their jobs, reach greater heights in their career and most of all to seek guidance from Above in times of difficulties and confusion.
The power trio, in their advice to the budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the healthcare staffing space, say, “Service first, before business. Understanding a medical professional—their role in the community and their natural heart to serve—that is where you can start. Once you have a clear understanding of this, you can create and build strong relationships with your employees and partners, which is essential for the business to grow.”
Florida Lucas, VP for Finance/Chief Finance Officer
I have extensive experience as a professional nurse in different healthcare settings with varying roles and positions. In the US, my area of nursing practice centered around long-term care setting where I rose through the ranks from being a Nursing Supervisor to Rehab Nursing Coordinator and Infection Preventionist.
Currently, I am the Assistant Director of Nursing in a nursing home in Manhattan. As a co-founder of RN Express, I am directly involved in the education and training of our nurses to ensure confidence and preparedness before deploying them to our partner facilities.
My heart belongs to nursing, and fulfilling my dream of becoming a nurse, and overcoming the obstacles and barriers of all sorts, I am happy to impart my experience to my fellow nurses and help them reach new heights.
Overcoming Adversities
As a Healthcare Personnel (HCP) provider, planning for a community outbreak of COVID-19 is critical for maintaining availability of healthcare service providers during a response. RN Express referred to state and federal pandemic guidelines to ensure that the company protocols comply with applicable state and federal regulations and with standards set by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
The company drafted a customized COVID-19 guidelines and protocols to meet its unique needs and circumstance, which included creating a task force within its administrative team to ensure the health and safety of its healthcare professionals. This is carefully updated as needed.
- Continuous delivery of care kits, PPE, medication, vitamins, and food supply, especially for those who unavoidably contracted the virus.
- Daily monitoring of illness for those who were sick.
- Providing housing for those who need to quarantine away from their families.
Like the rest of the world, RN Express’ office staff had to quickly adapt to working from home to keep themselves and their families safe. PPP assistance from the government came in to cover for payroll, sick payment, and hazard incentives for the frontline heroes. And thankfully, the company has partnered with facilities who did not delay their payments for the services rendered by its dedicated front liners.
Voyaging towards new horizons
We asked the trio about how they predict the healthcare staffing market to be in 2021and how the company is going to scale its offerings to align with that prediction, to which they said, “This pandemic not only changed our way of life but created a new norm. The causative factor is still affecting all of us and is continuously changing its movements – COVID-19 is unpredictable in nature.”
“Even before the pandemic, the need for healthcare workers is increasing. There are so many factors, one of many in our opinion is the implementation of electronic medical records in all healthcare settings.”
“Some veteran nurses, with 30-40 years of experience, face the challenges of adapting to the quick changes in technology in documentation, and opt to retire early. With this, the shortage of nurses is evident, and the need to train new healthcare workers continues to rise.”
“Indeed, the demand for staffing in 2021 is a good problem for us. The company is aligned with this prediction, and we are excited to take in new blood, prepare and mold them to be the next generation of nursing leaders.”
“We are proud of where we are right now, and we plan to consistently direct our efforts in maintaining our vision and mission. We continue to work towards being #1 in delivering outstanding healthcare professionals in the industry.”
“In addition, we aim to partner with a tech company to help us develop a software that will streamline our company’s process of recruitment, hiring, onboarding, maintaining of employee records, invoicing and payroll that is specific to our company’s setup,” the trio concludes.