OHSU School of Nursing Receives $500,000 for Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Scholarships

   Portland, Ore.

Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing is one of five schools nationwide to receive a $500,000 grant to establish the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund for Geriatric Nurse Practitioners. The fund will provide scholarships designed to encourage master's-level nursing students to choose aging as an area of specialization.

The fund will endow two to three new scholarships annually in geriatric nursing. Hearst scholars will receive two-year scholarships of approximately $5,000 in their first year of study, and $10,000 in their second.

"These Hearst scholarships provide much-needed financial support to our students, while encouraging them to study in a field which has been particularly hard hit by the nursing shortage," said Kathleen Potempa, D.N.Sc., R.N., F.A.A.N., dean of the OHSU School of Nursing." In 10 years Oregon is expected to have 20 percent fewer registered nurses than it needs. Scholarships such as these are crucial if we want to avoid a major crisis."

Susan Fee, an OHSU School of Nursing student working on her master's degree in geriatric nursing, said that many students with an interest in continuing education are hindered by financial constraints.

"I have met several nurses with a love of geriatric nursing and an interest in advanced nursing education who do not enroll in the geriatric nursing program. Finances are often given as the reason. The Hearst Foundation endowment will help educate and prepare a greater number of nurses to meet the health needs of our aging population," she said.

The Hearst Scholarships will be available to students in September 2002. Master's-level nurses are encouraged to apply. Interested applicants should contact Katherine Crabtree, D.N.Sc., A.N.P., R.N.C.S., professor of nursing, OHSU School of Nursing at 503 494-3828.

The Hearst Foundation, founded more than 50 years ago by William Randolph Hearst, provides scholarship support through its 2001 Initiative in Aging, a program designed to increase the number of nurses trained to coordinate and manage the care of older people so that they may continue to live independently and contribute to their communities.

The School of Nursing is one priority within The Oregon Opportunity, an OHSU-wide fund-raising initiative to support and expand OHSU programs, and to accelerate the institution's biomedical research activities.

For more information about The Oregon Opportunity or the School of Nursing, contact Barbara Peschiera, director of development for the OHSU School of Nursing, at 503 494-7525 or e-mail peschier@ohsu.edu. More information about giving opportunities is available on the OHSU School of Nursing's Web site at www.ohsu.edu/son-giving.

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