Nurses for America Program Launches to Aid Underserved Populations
By Christina Orlovsky, senior staff writer
When undergraduate nursing students at Washington D.C.’s Georgetown University were asked how they could make a difference in medically underserved communities, their response was simple: Create a professional nursing corps, similar to those that employ teachers and other public service workers nationwide. Now, just one year later, Nurses for America has received the first nurse-focused grant from the AmeriCorps Corporation for National and Community Service to address the growing need for nurses in the public health care arena.
While Georgetown University funded the program’s infrastructure, the $20,000 grant from AmeriCorps will fund recruitment, training and placement of nurses in clinics in underserved communities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area; Alameda County, California; East St. Louis, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Laredo, Texas. Nurses for America is in the process of recruiting 20 nurses for the first cohort, which will begin in August.
“The aim of the grant is to help address the nursing shortage in community health centers, public health departments and faith-based clinics, which are the ‘safety net’ health care providers for the uninsured and low-income workers and their families,” explained Barbara Aranda-Naranjo, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, endowed chair in values-based health care in the department of nursing and health studies at Georgetown University. Aranda-Naranjo was the professor of the class that conceived the idea for the program. She collaborated with faculty colleagues, students and the director of Georgetown’s Office of Campus Ministry Rev. Tim Godfrey to obtain the grant.
According to Aranda-Naranjo, the program is ready to offer seven letters of acceptance to future Nurses for America. Thirteen are still needed for the first cohort. Nurses will commit to two years, during which time they will receive immersion training from Georgetown University and other partnering institutions across the country. At the completion of one year of service, nurses will be eligible for student loan deferment and/or an educational award of $4,725.
“We are looking for nurses with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree,” she said. “They can be new grads or nurses out of school for a long time; they can even be retired, but still able to work. We’re looking for a variety of experience, specialties and age ranges.”
So far, Aranda-Naranjo added that the applicants have met the range she’s been looking for, including new graduates, experienced staff nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives, but they all have one thing in common: the desire to serve the community.
“They all want to make things better in areas where underserved and vulnerable populations are being cared for,” she said.
In addition to a range of experience, the nurses who participate in the program will be asked to fill a wide range of roles within their clinics. Some will be case managers; some will do primary care for children and adults; some nurse practitioners will take charge of women’s health, while pediatric nurse practitioners may be placed in school-based clinics. Others yet will serve as case managers within the community enrolling children in insurance programs. According to Aranda-Naranjo, all of these duties fulfill a great need within these communities.
“We are in a critical shortage of nurses right now, and these clinics cannot be run without nurses. Plus, most of them don’t have time to recruit nurses because they barely have time to see all their patients,” she said. “Nurses for America has come to the right place at the right time. We are a program that is meeting this critical need in communities throughout the country.”
She added: “Not only are we drawing from the best nurses, but also those who are really committed and who, at this point, can give back to their communities. That resonates with who we are as American people with our volunteerism, but also meets a great need with the shortage. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Visit the Nurses for America Web site for more information or to apply for the program.
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