By 2030, the American health care system will need a million new nurses, and the UW School of Nursing is working to mitigate that shortage with a supply-meets-demand approach. The school launched an accelerated bachelor of nursing program in 2017 that is now training students to become registered nurses in just 12 months. Guided by first-rate faculty and clinical experts, students gain concept-based knowledge and apply it through hands-on experiences in lab simulations and real-world care situations.
Scholarships established through the All Ways Forward campaign ensure that more students will have access to this program so they can swiftly get from the classroom to the front lines of hospitals and clinics. These scholarships came from a generous grant contributed by the venerable Helene Fuld Health Trust, which created an endowment that will provide ongoing financial aid to selected Badgers in the fast-tracked program for years to come.
The Helene Fuld Health Trust is the nation’s largest private funder devoted exclusively to nursing students and their schooling, supporting and promoting their health, well-being, and education. As the endowment grows and students continue to gain greater access to an enhanced education in health care, it will profoundly impact the future of nurses across the nation.
“As we grow our programs to educate more nurse leaders to meet health and workforce needs,” says Dean Linda Scott of the UW School of Nursing, “we are grateful to the Helene Fuld Health Trust for helping to make this pathway to the profession financially accessible for our students.”