Donivan Wells decided to become a nurse for job security — something he has never had to worry about in the ten years of his career.
With nurses in high demand, Wells, a certified nurse who works at Sparrow Hospital, 1215 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, said the field is still mainly made up of women.
"Estrogen rules around here," he said. "I think there is a stigma to some degree — that male nurses aren't as masculine or something."
The lack of male nurses in the state has led the Michigan Center for Nursing, 2410 Woodlake Drive in Okemos, to launch a poster campaign titled "It's A Guy Thing."
In a 2005 survey conducted by the center, 95.4 percent of practicing nurses in Michigan were female, leaving male nurses to make up less than 5 percent of the profession.
"We've taken a look at the data in Michigan, and Michigan only has a certain percentage of male nurses," said Anne Wilson, spokeswoman for the Michigan Center for Nursing. "We have been thinking for a while we have to do something to get men involved in nursing."
In the fall, posters of hunting, fishing and male nurses will be tacked to locker doors and vending machines in high schools, colleges and universities around Michigan.
The campaign is currently looking for male nurses and nursing students who lead healthy, active lifestyles to apply to be featured on the posters.
"We have gotten a lot of applications so far, but we are hoping for more — a nice diverse group," Wilson said.
The low number of males in nursing may be because nursing traditionally has been a field for women, she said.
The number of males enrolled in the MSU College of Nursing program has seen an increase over the years, said Monique Bozier, director of development and external relations at the college. Out of the 239 undergraduates enrolled in the college of nursing for fall 2006, 30 students are male.
"It is a female dominated workforce," Bozier said. "Our goal is to diversify the workforce."
But the nationwide shortage of certified nurses is not limited to males. All nurses are in high demand, said John Lux, spokesman for Sparrow Hospital.
"Whether they are men, women or other — we don't look at that," Lux said, adding that there have been male nurses working at Sparrow in the 30 years he's been there.
Olin Health Center has no male nurses on staff, and it doesn't see any joining the staff in the near future, said Kathi Braunlich, spokeswoman for Olin Health Center.
"We post available positions for nursing on a regular basis, but (men) just do not apply," Braunlich said.
The poster campaign has been successful in several other states, Wilson said.
Wells said there are about 1,500 nurses on staff at Sparrow and added that at least 20 of them are male.
Though he may be a minority, Wells said nursing has provided him with the stability he wants, including flexible hours and allowing his wife to stay home with their three children.
"I think it's great. I know a lot of guys that are unemployed … in the auto industry, and there just isn't a plentiful amount of jobs out there," he said.
