Los Angeles Jewish Home Receives Annenberg Grant Making It One of the Only U.S. Senior-Care Facilities With School of Nursing

RESEDA, Calif., June 20 /PRNewswire/ — Made possible by an Annenberg Foundation grant at a time when the country is experiencing a severe nursing shortage, The Los Angeles Jewish Home has become one of the only U.S. multi-level senior-living facilities with a school of nursing with the beginning of classes at the Home this month.

The new Annenberg School of Nursing offers a full-time program that aims to prepare students to pass the state-required exam for licensure. The intensive program engages students 40 hours per week in the classroom or at clinical sites, plus three hours of reading per day. All students will receive 500 hours of classroom instruction and 980 hours of clinical training at local hospitals.

“Like all healthcare providers, we’re faced with the challenge of recruiting new nurses; retaining existing ones; and assuring professional, well-trained nurses are available for the future,” said Molly Forrest, CEO/president of the Home.

“The establishment of this school of nursing will provide wonderful career-development opportunities for our own staff members and for members of the community in which we operate,” Forrest continued. “And, of course, we’re particularly proud to be one of the only senior facility in the United States to offer a school of nursing on site.

One attractive feature of the program is financial incentives for its students. The total cost to educate each student in the program is $17,000. Through the generous gifts from the Annenberg Foundation, UniHealth Foundation, and private donors, students will receive a $10,000 tuition scholarship, which will be forgiven if they take a nursing job at the Home upon graduation and stay for at least two years.

Also available will be no-interest scholarship assistance through the L.A. Jewish Free Loan Program sponsored in part by Jewish Home donors Saul and Joyce Brandman.

Heading the school is Marie Fagan, former director of nursing at American Career College and Casa Loma College. “It’s great to be in on the ground floor of building this program,” said Fagan. “The Jewish Home has a stellar reputation, which will now only grow in the medical community.”

The nation’s nursing shortage is particularly acute in California. According to the California Economic Development Department, the state is expected to be short more than 100,000 registered nurses and 25,000 licensed vocational nurses by 2010.

Established in 1989 by Walter H. Annenberg, the Annenberg Foundation provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations in the United States and globally through its headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania, and offices in Los Angeles, California. Its major program areas are education and youth development; arts, culture and humanities; civic, community and the environment; and health and human services. In addition, the Foundation operates a number of initiatives which expand and complement these program areas. The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication. As the principal means of achieving this goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.

Founded in 1912, the world-renowned Los Angeles Jewish Home is one of the foremost continuing senior-living facilities in the United States and is the largest single-source provider of senior housing in Los Angeles. Each year, more than 1,500 senior women and men are supported through in-residence housing on two village campuses (spanning 16 acres), which feature independent-living “Neighborhood Home” accommodations, residential care, skilled nursing care, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care, or through Skirball Hospice in the community. Healthcare professionals from around the world consult with the Jewish Home in an effort to improve eldercare in their home countries. The Home is a nonprofit organization that relies solely upon donations from individuals, corporations and foundations to continue its remarkable work. Further information regarding the Home can be found online at http://www.jha.org/ or by calling 818-757-4407.

Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging

CONTACT: Jim Yeager, +1-818-597-8453, ext. 6, jimy@kevinross.net, forLos Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging

Web site: http://www.jha.org/