Chaminade University’s renowned nursing program has been awarded a coveted federal grant to improve the education and training of a diverse pool of future nurses.
The College of Nursing & Health Professions has earned a prestigious Nursing Workforce Diversity program grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The large award, valued at over $2.2 million, will be distributed over four years.
Anela LaBore, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Nursing at the college, said the HRSA grant is transformative and will go both to directly supporting nursing students and toward enhancing Chaminade’s early outreach and education initiatives designed to improve educational outcomes.
“We provide a lot of support to students and this grant will allow us to expand that support,” LaBore said.
In keeping with the mission of the program issuing the grant, the money will be spent to “increase the enrollment, progression, and graduation of nursing students from disadvantaged racial, financial, and cultural backgrounds,” LaBore added.
Chaminade University was the only institution in Hawai‘i to be awarded the grant this year.
Aside from scholarships, much of the award will be spent on recruiting more nursing students from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, benefiting the islands’ overlooked communities while addressing Hawai‘i’s nursing shortage.
Funds will be directed toward better preparing incoming nursing students, as well.
Chaminade University’s undergraduate nursing degree program is a four-year program. Given the high demands and technical skills required of nurses, part of the funds will be used to provide messaging in the nursing school’s recruitment processes, helping high school students to better understand what it takes to become a nurse.
This will help to enable students to make better decisions regarding their educational pathways.
Some of the HRSA grant money will also be spent on preparing students for the rigors of nurse training.
LaBore said she and her colleagues plan to use a portion of the funds to develop ‘readiness modules’ or specialized short courses to help students meet or improve general education requirements. The modules would align with the university’s strategic vision of ensuring a greater sense of belonging and wellbeing in students while improving their chances of academic success in the nursing program.
Chaminade already has initiatives in place to help incoming nursing students better prepare for their courses and program requirements. With this grant, nursing instructors will be able to improve and expand upon these initiatives while extending them to disadvantaged populations.
“This applies to all students when there’s a gap that we see when they are coming from high school,” LaBore explained. “We’re building students coming into the program,” she said. “We’re supporting them while they’re in the program.”
Chaminade University’s nurse education program was launched in 2010 as an undergraduate major and has since undergone major expansions with the addition of master’s and doctoral graduate nursing programs. The College of Nursing & Health Professions has graduated hundreds of nurses now serving patients throughout Hawai‘i and across the nation.
Grant number: 1 D19HP56223-01-00