Can't find work after one year now what?

I have been unemployed for the past year due to downsizing in my nursing home. I have been unable to find a job for a year now. I have been a LTC geriatric nurse for the past 8 yrs. I have reapplied to hospitals and have updated my ACLS . My problem is that most hospitals look at my experience in long term care as a deficit, not an asset. It is as if I having been working at all for the past 8 yrs. I have been advised to take a nursing refresher course, but they are $1700. It's not like I haven't been working for 8 yrs, and I was a hospital based nurse prior to my nursing home career. I am resentful that I am being told to take a refresher when I feel I haven't forgotten anything.
Any advice as to how to proceed and how to procure a job would help.
Have you tried the VNA in your area? A friend of mine made a switch toVisiting Nurses and her hospital and LTC experience was helpful. It is a lot of paperwork and some traveling, but it pulled together her skills.The benefits were good too.Sorry to hear that you have been out of work for a year, wishing you thebest in the New Year. Hope a good nursing job comes through soon for you.
In my humble opinion, THE most important thing is to get a RN job, almost ANY RN job, right away. I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but in California, if you don't have 2 years recent/current experience in the exact specialty you're looking for, you are almost assuredly not going to get interveiwed, let alone hired. Desperately looking for work myself after 24 years of nursing, the only positions available are those NO one wants... cheesy agencies, SNF's with horrid reputations, the rare non-traditional jobs that want you to work 14 hour days, 6 days a week, etc. The previous posters suggestion of Home Health Care, if you can get it, is one of the more likely options, although in my neck of the woods, the reputable agencies will only consider those with RECENT home health care experience. Also, I just read where gas is expected to raise to $4 per gallon later this year. Good luck to you, I've resorted to applying for non-nursing jobs.