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Mount St. Mary's College's Accelerated Nursing Program to Receive $1.35 Million From Kaiser Permanente

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 September 2006, 21:00 CDT

Mount St. Mary's College (the Mount) has received a gift of $850,000 and a commitment for another $500,000 from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to support the Mount's accelerated nursing program, which is designed to help ease California's severe nursing shortage by placing qualified, registered nurses with baccalaureate degrees into the workforce in just one year.

The College is hosting a reception at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 7 to thank Kaiser Permanente for its generous support. The event will be in the Pompeian Room of the Doheny Mansion, a historic landmark on the College's downtown Los Angeles campus. Thirty-four students were chosen for the one-year program that began in May 2006, and up to two-thirds of their tuition will be paid through the $850,000 grant. As part of the program, students will perform clinical rotations and be mentored by Kaiser Permanente staff, as well as commit for employment at Kaiser Foundation hospitals for their first two years after graduation.

Kaiser has also donated $500,000 for the next program beginning May 2007.

"Kaiser Permanente's continued support demonstrates its belief that Mount St. Mary's College educates highly qualified nurses," said Mount St. Mary's College President Jacqueline Powers Doud. "We are very proud of our four nursing programs. Our accelerated nursing program, in particular, allows us to immediately and effectively contribute to the nursing shortage in Los Angeles."

Judy Husted, executive director of the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Patient Care Services, said Mount students will be embraced by Kaiser Permanente. "With the forgivable loan program, we are doing something totally unique to help students become Kaiser Permanente nurses," she said. "It is one of the many innovative initiatives we have implemented to address the California nursing shortage, which is a huge crisis."

According to the American Nurses Association California, the state ranks 49th in the nation in the number of nurses per capita, and there's a projected shortfall of 60,000 RNs by 2020. Significant shortages of faculty are a major barrier for increasing enrollments.

Accelerated Nursing Program Director Brigid Barrett said that the Mount partnership with Kaiser Permanente has an impact on the entire community. "For the new graduates, this program offers a winning combination of having their education paid for while also starting their nursing career with a quality healthcare organization. Kaiser Permanente adds to their roster of highly-qualified nurses -- and the community benefits from this combination of education and expertise."

"The Kaiser Permanente scholarship has made my dream of becoming an RN a reality," said nursing student Loren Franck. "It's a tremendous opportunity to work with terrific people." Franck was a magazine editor and writer for 25 years, mostly in health, fitness, and sports. Her B.S. degree is in psychology with a minor in sociology.

Accelerated nursing program student Sheila Askarnia has always wanted to go into the medical field. "My mom is a nurse, and I look up to her. Once I started volunteering in the ICU and ER at Scripps Memorial during my senior year at University of California, San Diego, that's when it really hit me and reinforced my prior thoughts about nursing," said Askarnia. Askarnia received her degree in psychology with a minor in biology.

Kaiser Permanente began its support of nursing education at the Mount in 2005 with a $440,000 gift for students in the 2005-06 accelerated nursing program.

Kaiser Permanente is one of America's leading integrated health plans. Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with Southern California Regional headquarters in Pasadena, Calif. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 3.2 million Southern California members from Bakersfield to San Diego. It encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.; Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries; and the for-profit Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region includes more than 49,919 technical, administrative, and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 6,000 physicians representing all specialties. For more information, go to www.kaiserpermanente.org.

Founded in 1925, Mount St. Mary's College is a Catholic, liberal arts college dedicated primarily to the education of women through innovative, values-based educational programs at two historic campuses. The Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Program (AccBSN) offers the BSN degree to students already holding a Bachelor's Degree. The vigorous program takes one year (May to May) to complete. The AccBSN program is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing. The state of California's first baccalaureate program in nursing was established at the Mount in 1952. For more information, visit www.msmc.la.edu.

Editor's note: Photos of award recipients available upon request, Marie Blakey, mblakey@msmc.la.edu.

Source: Business Wire

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