OMAHA, Neb (KMTV)—
- This renewable scholarship is available for students entering nursing program at College of Saint Mary.
- Awards are up to $10,000 for a bachelor's degree.
- Video shows equipment and tools available in the College's nursing program.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Nebraska is losing nurses every day to reasons like retirement and switching careers. The Nebraska center for nursing predicts over 5,000 nurses to leave their professions by 2025.
College of Saint Mary is working to slow that number down by helping more of their students with the high costs of nursing school. The goal, to ramp up recruitment and get more nurses into the pipeline to help with the shortage.
Leslie Le is busy; she’s a full time mom, and now, a nursing student
“Help people, I want to help people. I’m not a stranger to hospitals, i have four kids, so I feel like we’re at the hospital every single month,” Le says.
Leslie is in College of Saint Mary’s class of 2027.
“I feel like nurses are the ones that make an impact, because you see the doctors right, but the nurses are the ones that are there with you and make you feel cared for," Le says.
But as she and her classmates enter the field, many more are leaving.
The Nebraska Center for Nursing estimates that by next year, almost 3,000 nurses in Omaha will leave their professions and almost twice that number across the state.
Stacey Ocander is in workforce at Nebraska Hospital Association and say’s the association’s goal is to ramp up recruitment and graduate more nurses.
“We learned from that it’s an ongoing recruitment,” says Ocander.
College of Saint Mary is doing just that by offering scholarships.
Where professor Mia Jackson says new ways of teaching, better prepare students for the profession.
And hopefully prevent burn out.
“They’re getting experience working with patients, shadowing nurses in a clinical setting that are having to take one or two more patients.
Time in the clinic, and the classroom with less worry about students loans allows Leslie to focus on doing good for her neighbors.
“Were always going to have challenges no matter what career you decide to go into, in the end it’s what you out into it,” Le says.
The scholarship Leslie received is worth $10,000 and is part of a larger financial aid package the college offers to students entering the program at College of Saint Mary.
