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The Nursing Department welcomed 10 new students to the Bring Diversity to Nursing Program, bringing the total number in the program to 23.
Funded last September with $1 million in federal and state grants, the program was developed to recruit, retain and graduate minority and economically disadvantaged nursing students.
The students who were accepted will receive scholarships, equipment, tutoring and mentoring to help them succeed in the nursing program.
“Graduating high-quality minority nurses is important to meeting the healthcare needs of our nation,” says Prof. Karen Devereaux Melillo, chair of the Nursing Department and principal investigator of the Bring Diversity to Nursing program. “As our population grows older and more diverse, we need to not only attract more people to the profession to stem the nursing shortage, but we also need people who can effectively interact with patients across cultures to deliver the best care possible.”
Raising awareness of the nursing profession among those of an early age is one of the strategies of the program. During the past year, the Bring Diversity to Nursing team has visited 13 elementary schools and read the book “Nurses,” authored by Cecilia Minden and Linda M. Armantrout, to 1,415 second-grade students in Lawrence and Lowell.
“It’s never too early to talk to children about nursing as a career,” says Assoc. Prof. Lisa Abdallah of the Nursing Department. “They asked a lot of questions and seemed really intrigued about who can become a nurse, what a nurse does and doesn’t do.”
Recruitment efforts also included workshops for more than 300 middle- and high-school students as well as participation in career fairs and informational sessions.
Once students are enrolled, then what?
“Retention is a critical piece of the program,” says Assoc. Prof. Jacqueline Dowling of the Nursing Department. “We’re doing all that we can to help students graduate and get them into the health care system by providing them with tutoring, mentoring and financial support.”
