SWFL hospitals and Florida Gulf Coast University team up on fixing nurse shortage
Yasmin Forte Raposo couldn’t be happier with the career path she’s chosen.
With a $10,000 scholarship in hand from Lee Health, she knows how she will pay for her remaining semesters at Florida Gulf Coast University for her bachelor’s degree to become a registered nurse.
Before her final semester, Forte Raposo will apply to a Lee Health nurse residency program and commit to working for the hospital system in Lee County for 18 months after graduating from the program.
The work commitment is fine with her and she envisions staying there.
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“I think Lee Health is one of the best places in the region,” the 27-year-old said. “I want to work at one of the hospitals.”
She’s not certain of her clinical focus yet; it could be emergency medicine or it could be labor and delivery.
All of this is music to the ears of Lee Health leaders. The system’s foundation has committed more than $575,000 to nursing scholarships in partnership with FGCU to help nursing students live and work in the region. The state is matching the amount, Lee Health officials say.
NCH, a hospital system in Collier County, is currently working with FGCU on some exciting new student opportunities and will be announcing those in the near future, said Lance Fenton, NCH director of learning and education.
Florida is expected to be short nearly 60,000 nurses by 2035, coupled with steep climbs in labor costs, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
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The market conditions are requiring hospitals to “enact extraordinary measures” to retain staff and fill vacancies, including salary market adjustments and adopting new policies to increase retention, according to the FHA.
The state of Florida in 2022 established what’s known as Linking Industry to Nursing Education, LINE, to incentivize Florida College System institutions and independent nonprofit schools to partner with health care providers to help address the nurse workforce shortage.
The state provides matching funds for the scholarships with the 2023 appropriation of $19 million.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ budget proposal for next year includes $25 million for the LINK program and $100 million in incentives for another nurse education program.
How many students applied?
A total of 21 students from FGCU applied for Lee Health scholarships and 19 have received scholarships, according to Brenda Hage, director of FGCU’s school of nursing.
“We have approximately 60 additional slots available for Lee Health scholarships of up to $10,000 each,” Hage said.
The students must be in good academic standing in the nursing program, not pre-nursing.
More: Burnout, stress and retirement causing nearly 900,000 nurses nationwide to quit
“Lee Health System has a scholarship committee that rigorously reviews student scholarship applications,” Hage said.
Along with the financial support, the scholarship recipients will experience Lee Health’s culture and take part in conferences and symposiums, along with clinical rotations to gain exposure and experience, according to hospital officials.
The hospital system has 1,977 beds combined at four acute care hospitals, a children’s hospital and nursing home, along with extensive outpatient services. There are 231 openings for bedside registered nurses; it currently has 3,913 bedside RN’s.
“We have such a fantastic pool of local talent at FGCU and we are thrilled to take advantage of that,” Jen Higgins, Lee Health’s chief nursing officer, said. “At Lee Health, we are focused on empowering our nurses to lead at every level.”
She added: “The partnership with FGCU will help support and elevate Lee Health’s commitment to quality patient care in the Southwest Florida community, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this collaboration.”
The student’s perspective
Forte Raposo, who is originally from Brazil, came to the United States in 2014. She went to California for a foreign exchange program to learn English and went back to Brazil after the program ended.
She came back to the U.S. and was in a seminary program at her church in Fort Myers for a year. Her twin sister lives in Cape Coral with her husband and children, whom Forte Raposo lives with to help reduce her expenses while she’s in school.
Forte Raposo was attending Hodges University before transferring to FGCU. She thought about medical school but changed to nursing when she saw how much more hands-on nurses are with patients compared to doctors.
She received some scholarships from FGCU and wasn’t certain she qualified for the Lee Health scholarship because she’s an international student.
After learning she did qualify, Lee Health officials also said they will help her with her work visa application, so it is a double bonus in her mind.
She didn’t bat an eye at committing to working 18 months at Lee Health after she completes the nurse residency program.
“I want to stay, if it is possible, I will stay,” Forte Raposo said.
Getting the Lee Health scholarship was amazing, she said, but that wasn’t the best part.
“It was even better when I told my parents in Brazil,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Lee Heath Foundation puts up $575,000 to get state match for nurses
