Leach College of Nursing Receives Grant Funding, Including $1.35M through ANEW

Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) Leach College of Nursing (LCON) was recently notified it was approved for another Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant will award the university approximately $1.35M over four years to help increase access to quality health and behavioral health care for underserved and rural areas in Illinois—especially in Will, Grundy and Cook counties.

The project will build upon USF’s previous ANEW grant and will support the training and graduation of Family Nurse Practitioners and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners who will practice in underserved areas.

“The continuing ANEW project is designed to sustainably train a workforce capable of addressing urgent health and behavioral health needs. Our FNP and PMHNP curricula are designed using national standards for best practices in online instruction, and USF has strong relationships with local sites for experiential training. Also, USF has created an alternative model, which is to establish strong working relationships with partners to improve health and behavioral healthcare access in the service area in Illinois and Wisconsin. Continuing the project will allow USF to develop a pipeline of preceptors to better serve our FNP and PMHNP students and the public,” said USF LCON dean Yeijin Yeom, Ph.D., RN, CNE.

Additionally, LCON was awarded a $100,000 Nursing School Grant through the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The grant will be used to address equity gaps in enrollment and course completion for USF Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and BSN Completion students, of which approximately half are African American, Latinx, low-income, first-generation, from rural communities, and/or working adults. With the grant funding, LCON will purchase equipment, including a medication dispensing system and simulation cart, and increase 24 additional hours per week of simulation labs for BSN students in order to accommodate working students. They will also offer remediation on evenings and weekends to reinforce preparation our students for clinical practice. LCON expects an increase of the retention rate of students. As a result, highly competent and well-prepared students maximize their employment opportunities while benefitting patients in Illinois.

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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 53,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.

University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.

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USF Receives HRSA Grant to Prepare Nursing Educators

Joliet, Ill. – The Leach College of Nursing at the University of St. Francis (USF) was recently awarded the prestigious Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) Grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The grant, worth close to $250,000 annually, seeks to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty nationwide, and through loan cancellation, decrease the financial barrier that nursing instructors often experience. “The purpose of this program is to prepare highly qualified, diverse nursing educators, thereby reducing the nursing faculty shortage and addressing health disparities. The NFLP funds will provide tuition assistance to 20 future nurse educators in the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), and post-master’s certificate programs,” said Christina Nordick, APRN, CNP, grant project director and Associate Professor of nursing at USF. The grant will help USF to address three primary goals. The first is to increase the quantity and diversity of nurse educators in the greater Chicagoland area. The grant will also help USF NFLP loan recipients receive high-quality preparation for their nurse-educator roles, which will in turn help to decrease the shortage of nurse educators in the Chicagoland area. As outlined in the terms of the grant, students may receive up to $12,490 annually to pay for tuition, fees, books, and educational expenses. After graduation, if recipients are employed fulltime as nurse faculty at an accredited institution, if they are employed part time in an accredited nursing institution and are precept advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students part time, of if they are precept APRN students full time for four years, 85% of the grant is “forgiven”. “NFLP funding will relieve students’ financial burden and provide incentives for students to enter careers in nurse education in academic and clinical settings, thereby expanding the nurse faculty workforce. Students will benefit from the various in-kind supportive structures provided at USF, such as mentorship, advising, and career-development activities, which will help students overcome barriers that prevent them from persisting through graduation,” Nordick added. Visit stfrancis.edu/leach-college-of-nursing for more information on nursing programs at USF. About the Health Resources and Services Administration According to its web site, hrsa.gov, the mission of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is to improve health outcomes and achieve health equity through access to quality services, a skilled health workforce, and innovative, high-value programs. HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA programs help those in need of high quality primary health care, people with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women, and mothers. HRSA also supports the training of health professionals, the distribution of providers to areas where they are needed most and improvements in health care delivery. : : The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 52,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu. University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose. # # #
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