BATTLE CREEK (Newschannel 3) - The nationwide nursing shortage is affecting young patients in Calhoun County.

Battle Creek Health System announced Tuesday that it is no longer accepting patients under the age of eight for in-patient care.

That decision is the result of a shortage of pediatric nurses.

There are only nine such nurses left in the Pediatric wing at BCHS, and now the hospital is being forced to send some of their patients to Bronson Children's Hospital in Kalamazoo.

Officials from BCHS tells Newschannel 3 that it has tried to hire nurses the past few months, but it's been a difficult process - a process Pediatric Nurse Sheena Ledbetter says is hurting everyone.

"There's just not been any luck," she said. "The nursing shortage is hitting us all the way around."

BCHS hopes the situation will only be temporary, and all emergency cases will still be handled.

Again, the shortage only affects longer-term in-patient care for kids under the age of eight.