Grants boost nursing program

UC Irvine has received $365,000 in state grants for its nursing program, leading all California schools in a push by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to increase the state’s medical personnel.

Sixteen colleges and universities benefited from the grants, which are intended to help schools attract and educate more nursing students.

The $3 million in total grants was provided under the Song-Brown Family Physician Training Act, passed in 1973 to encourage medical students to seek careers in California’s underserved areas.

“As we focus on reforming California’s broken healthcare system, we must ensure that we have the workforce to meet the growing demand for nurses,” Schwarzenegger said in a release. “These grants will help expand enrollment in nursing programs and attract students from within the communities the nursing programs serve.

“Our goal is to increase nursing school opportunities, particularly in medically underserved communities, and improve the training of nurses so they can provide the highest quality of care.”

UCI won two grants in all, one to expand student enrollment and the other to hire a community health professor to teach students about serving diverse populations. Ellen Lewis, UCI’s program administrator for nursing and allied health, said she saw the grant as an opportunity for public service.

“UCI serves a lot of under- served,” she said. “It has traditionally, and will continue to do that.”

She added that the nursing program, run through UCI’s College of Health Sciences, would expand by around 12 students under the grant. One hundred students are expected to enroll in the program this fall.