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Grant to help SBU address nursing shortage

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A $230,000 federal grant headed to Southwest Baptist University is intended to help the Bolivar college address the area’s nursing shortage.

With the grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SBU will offer a new financial aid option for graduating nursing students, according a news release.

The Nurse Faculty Loan Program through the Health Resources and Services Administration division of the HHS forgives up to 85 percent of loans for students who become a full-time nurse faculty member at any accredited university in the United States.

“The demand for registered nurses is expected to increase 13 percent in the Ozarks region, demanding an immediate increase of nurse educators,” said Kezia Lilly, dean of the Mercy College of Nursing & Health Sciences at SBU, in the release. “In order to meet the supply and demand of local hospitals, we are looking to maximize our annual enrollment in our associate of science in nursing program.

“Increasing enrollment requires additional educators.”

SBU cited a 2015 Missouri Hospital Association report, which estimated a need of 117 registered nurses per year through 2022 in the seven-county Ozark Workforce Investment Area. The turnover rate in the region is 17.4 percent, nearly two percentage points higher than the state average.

A month ago, CoxHealth announced plans to hire around 100 overseas nurses, largely from the Philippines, to address the area’s nursing shortage. The nurses are scheduled to begin arriving this fall.

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