A federal grant will boost the number of students and faculty in Western Carolina University’s accelerated nursing program to prepare the region for an expected shortage of nurses, officials with WCU and the VA Medical Center in Asheville announced Thursday.
The $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will fund five new faculty positions and add 20 students to WCU’s nursing program each year for the next three years.
The program will also create a stronger relationship between the VA and WCU, giving students more clinical experience within the hospital and job opportunities in the Veterans Health Administration.
“We have a nursing shortage, and we have a faculty shortage; and with 80 million baby boomers getting ready to retire, we have a bed shortage,” said Johnnie Guttery, director of the VA Nursing Academy program in Asheville. “It’s going to take more faculty to educate more nurses and more students to provide that care.”
The VA Nursing Academy program is one of five to be funded this year as part of a five-year, $40 million grant program that began in 2007.
WCU has had a long-standing relationship with the Asheville VA, and the new program will allow students to spend more time getting clinical experience, according to Vincent Hall, director of WCU’s School of Nursing.
At least half of the program’s graduates are expected to find employment within the Veterans Health Administration.
Although local job prospects for nursing students are more limited than usual this year, Dave Przestzelski, VA associate director for patient care services, said nursing graduates have many options available.
“There are so many different opportunities outside of just hospitals. There’s much more in public health and community clinics and home care and hospice care that doesn’t necessarily have to be confined to the hospital,” Przestzelski said.
The new program will allow Iraq war veteran Paul Miller to pursue his desire to provide care to other veterans.
“Many of the things I saw over there made me think I’m probably in the wrong track in the infantry, and I wanted to help people,” he said.
Miller, who has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, said accelerated nursing programs like the one at WCU are highly competitive.
“They’re very hard to get into. It’s a very small funnel, so I’m grateful for this program,” he said.
Source: Asheville Citizen Times
