CHI St. Vincent has donated $1.1 million to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to support recruitment, education and training in nursing.
The gift is part of a five-year agreement between CHI St. Vincent’s Nursing Pathway Program and UAPB’s bachelor’s degree program designed to help address a statewide shortage of nurses. In addition to training and recruitment, the money will be used to provide financial support for students and professional development opportunities for faculty.
The university will also work with CHI St. Vincent to provide hands-on internships and job placements for student nurses who advance through the program.
“This opportunity is an educational game-changer for our nursing program,” Diann Williams, chair of the UAPB Department of Nursing, said in a news release. “As we prepare the next generation of skilled nursing professionals, it is encouraging to know that UAPB will have these real-time learning resources for our students.”
Arkansas has 8.74 nurses per 1,000 residents, below the national average of 9.19, according to research by industry publication NurseJournal.
The American Nurses Association last year urged the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to declare “the current and unsustainable nurse staffing shortage” a national crisis.
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