With an eye on increasing Pennsylvania's nursing workforce, Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger College of Health Sciences will use a $2.5 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant to renovate its School of Nursing in Lewistown, Pa. This plan, according to a Dec. 23 release from Geisinger, will allow the school to enroll twice as many nursing students.
A vacant building in Lewistown, Pa., will be renovated and fully outfitted to house the expanded School of Nursing. The RACP is a Pennsylvania Office of Budget program that provides financial assistance for the construction of public projects to benefit the region.
The funding and green light of this project comes at a time when the pandemic has had a major impact on rural communities where the nursing shortage is dire and patient population is older and many are battling multiple conditions. The pandemic has complicated the task of serving patients from these underserved communities.
"Access to a skilled workforce is critical and challenging for most rural systems who must compete with higher wages, transportation issues and more urban communities which appeal to younger workers," said Janet Tomcavage, MSN, RN, chief nursing executive and executive vice president at Geisinger.
"Recruitment is challenging and so a high-quality hospital-sponsored School of Nursing mitigates some of these difficulties by focusing on local talent," she added, noting the pandemic has "only exacerbated the nursing shortage crisis as experienced nurses are leaving hospitals and the bedside in record numbers."
According to the World Health Organization's State of the World's Nursing 2020 report, millions of new nurses will be needed to replace those expected to retire by 2030.