ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It's the highest number of job vacancies Orlando's office of the Department of Veterans Affairs has ever seen.
Officials said there are more than 1,000 openings throughout all of its offices in Orlando.
Channel 9's Racquel Asa found that a majority of those openings are for high-paying positions and are available now.
A majority of the openings are for the new Lake Nona facility and for the facility in Baldwin Park. Officials said there are 900 open positions in the two facilities and many of them need to be filled in order to open the emergency room and the inpatient surgery facility in the Lake Nona hospital.
"We need everything from housekeeping aides to emergency room physicians, with the bulk of them being medical professionals," hospital Chief of Staffing and Human Resources Elizabeth Markich said.
The 650 medical professionals needed to open the two departments means physicians, registered nurses and specialists are in high demand.
"Our old location at Lake Baldwin didn't have an ER, so this is an expanded service that we will be providing to our veterans," Markich said.
She said filling the positions hasn't been easy.
Because the VA is drawing from the same pool of candidates as other hospitals in the Orlando area, the VA is upping the ante with its benefits.
"We absolutely offer competitive salaries (and) a great benefit package. We do an education loan repayment program and continuous education."
Orlando VA officials said they plan have the entire medical and support staff hired before both of the units open at the end of the year.
More Information: Orlando VA Job Openings
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