Charles R. Wood Foundation Awards Nursing Grant to Empire State University
Empire State University has received a grant from the Charles R. Wood Foundation that will help address the nursing shortage in New York’s North Country.
The Charles R. Wood Nurse Educator Pathway Program will support three nurses employed at the University of Vermont Health Network’s (UVMHN) North Country hospitals who want to pursue a Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSN) degree online at SUNY Empire.
The grant for $24,000 will provide $4,000 in scholarship funding annually for three MSN students working at UVMHN’s Alice Hyde Medical Center or Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) locations. Additional support is being provided by UVMHN and their affiliated hospitals, so students have no out-of-pocket tuition costs.
Through a dual service agreement with area nursing programs, UVMHN will pay the MSNs their clinical practice salary while they are in school. In exchange, MSN graduates will agree to serve part-time as adjunct nursing faculty for at least two years after graduating from the program.
The program will make it easier to get an advanced nursing degree, expand access to nursing education, and increase the pipeline of qualified nurses entering the workforce. The program will ultimately enhance the delivery of healthcare in the North Country and improve the health of people living in these communities.
“We are so grateful to the Charles R. Wood Foundation for this grant, which will help grow the nursing workforce and expand access to care in New York’s North Country,” said SUNY Empire President Lisa Vollendorf. “The scholarship funds will remove barriers for nurses looking to advance into educator roles, without disrupting the critical care they are providing in area hospitals.”
The nursing shortage in New York state is well documented. Projections show a shortfall of nearly 40,000 nurses statewide by 2030, with rural areas disproportionately affected. UVMHN currently has many nursing positions that are filled with costly traveling nurses.
The crisis is compounded by a lack of qualified nurse educators. Interested nursing students are often turned away due to faculty vacancies caused by a limited number of educators. Those interested in earning an advanced degree must often choose between earning a salary in clinical practice and paying for higher education.
“Our partnership with SUNY Empire is a major step forward in strengthening the nursing workforce in northern New York,” said Carly Haag DNP, chief nursing officer at CVPH. “By creating a pathway for our nurses to advance into educator roles, we’re building the local teaching capacity that Alice Hyde and CVPH need to grow. This collaboration also gives nursing colleges the clinical instructors they urgently need, expanding their ability to educate more students.”
In addition to working in their full-time hospital roles, students selected for the Charles R. Wood program will serve as clinical instructors in nursing programs for SUNY schools after graduation.
The Charles R. Wood Foundation was established in 1978 to support nonprofits in the Lake George region, with an emphasis on programs for children, healthcare and the arts. The foundation’s Special Healthcare Initiative focuses specifically on efforts to improve population health.