CAMP LESTER, Okinawa — Terri Boeskool, a registered nurse who relocated to Okinawa with her Marine husband in June, said finding a job — let alone a nursing job — has been tough.

"I didn’t think it would be as hard as it’s been," she said. "As soon as we got orders I started researching Web sites."

Boeskool was one of several to show up Tuesday at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa’s job fair to recruit civilian nurses.

There are 10 positions open, said Capt. LaFrancis Francis, a registered nurse and the hospital’s director of Nursing Services,

The hospital currently has 144 active-duty and civilian nurses assigned to its staff, although about 10 of those are deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba, Francis said.

Along with those deployments, civilian billets have opened.

"Civilian staff turnover is comparable to military," she said, "since many of our civilian nurses are family members of active duty and rotate approximately every three years."

Job announcements on the hospital’s Web site noted annual salaries for practical nurses range from $16,880 to $30,000, and $26,008 to $62,593 for nurses.

The job fair, set to end Thursday, attracted about a dozen applicants within its first hour, said Navy Human Resources specialist Aqueilla Grimmage-Smith.

Since Lester Hospital is the only military hospital on the island, competition for medical jobs is fierce, said Grimmage-Smith, who was screening applications.

Francis said the challenge isn’t finding qualified candidates, but finding candidates ready to commit to the demands of the job — shift schedules, long hours and an intense work environment.

"Any community will need nurses. They’re always coming and going," she said.

Having civilian nurses on staff helps ensure that patient care isn’t interrupted by transfers and deployments.

"This allows the patient care to be continuous at the same level," she said.

For more information about nursing positions, visit www.oki.med.navy.mil.