A.G. Gancarski
State money will not be allocated to a nurse training program in Northeast Florida for the next fiscal year, starting July 1.
For the second straight year, Gov. Ron DeSantis nixed money for Jacksonville University’s Graduate, Retain, and Optimize a Workforce (GROW) of Florida Nurses initiative.
The Senate appropriations request from Clay Yarborough posited that this “forward-thinking workforce development initiative designed to expand and strengthen Florida’s nursing and health care workforce” would help address the “full-blown emergency” that would be created by future shortages of nurses.
Had the money been granted, it would have helped to “increase faculty and staff to prepare for rapid expansion of several key programs including the existing and highly successful Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program (ABSN), the new Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing, and create new specialty graduate degrees that are in critically needed specialties in Florida.”
Rep. Wyman Duggan’s request added that the money would have worked to “support Jacksonville University’s initiatives to address Florida’s health care professional shortage by expanding … nursing programs, increasing nurse practitioner enrollment and specialties, enhancing simulation and (virtual reality) spaces, creating & expanding a nursing skills lab … establishing a faculty-led pediatric clinic, conducting a College of Nursing feasibility study, and hiring faculty and staff to sustain program growth.”
