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Grants To Fight Nursing ScarcityUsed by permission of the The Ledger Ten students will get help qualifying themselves for the medical profession. WINTER HAVEN - Like most medical care places around the country, Winter Haven Hospital has a shortage of nurses. But through a new grant program, hospital administrators are trying to combat the problem locally. Under the Foundation Scholars Program, 10 students will be the first to receive help completing their studies to become registered nurses, licensed practical nurses or radiology technologists. The first awards were presented Friday at the hospital. The new program was the brain child of Larry Tucker, chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Mid-Florida Medical Services Foundation, said Joel Thomas, executive director of the foundation. Tucker wanted to establish a fund that would provide a permanent endowment to help students become nurses, Thomas said. "The board has developed this as an aggressive mechanism to increase the local manpower supply," he said. Tucker could not be reached for comment. The first 10 grant recipients are all in nursing programs. Two started at Polk Community College in January and plan to become registered nurses. Three others have completed one year of PCC's two-year program for registered nurses. Two are already LPNs and are seeking to become RNs through an Internet program from the State University of New York. And three recipients are enrolled in the LPN program at Traviss Technical Center in Lakeland. After completing their studies, the grant recipients must agree to work for Winter Haven Hospital one year for every year of financial assistance they receive through the program. "Many of these people are employees already so the hospital is investing in them to go on and get their education," said Nat West, vice president of the hospital. "When other people hear these program are available they'll want to apply as well and we'll have more employees," he said. Hospital employees and their families are considered first for the foundation grants, West said. Mimi Jaime, a receptionist clerk at the hospital, said the grant she received will help make ends meet while she attends Traviss Technical Center to be come an LPN. It also boosts morale and shows support for hospital employees, said Jaime, who at 48 has worked at the hospital 21ò2 years. "This is the first time I've been exposed to a hospital setting," Jaime said. "I wish I'd done this a long time ago." New nurses can't come soon enough for Mary Jo Schreiber, vice president of patient services. One of the primary causes for the nursing shortage is more career options for women, said Schreiber, a nurse for 38 years. "Nursing is very hard work," Schreiber said. "It's hard physically and hard emotionally, but it's very rewarding." And, she said, a starting registered nurse with a two-year degree can earn about $40,000 a year. With 527 beds, Winter Haven Hospital should have a nursing staff of about 400. Currently the hospital has about 100 openings, Schreiber said. "We expect that by this fall that vacancy rate will be down around 10 percent with our recruiting efforts at PCC and the Philippines," she said. "We think we're attracting not only more nurses, but better-quality nurses." The hospital has recently hired 40 nurses from the Philippines and 18 new PCC graduates. Schreiber expects to hire another 20 nurses when the next PCC class graduates. Joy Cochran can be reached at joy.cochran@theledger.com or 863-401-6970.
Copyright 2003 The Ledger
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