Contacts: Lisa Miller 622-2085 • lisa@binghamprogram.org
Dr. Susan Sepples • 753-6589 • sepples@usm.maine.edu
August 31, 2010 • [Augusta, Maine] – Bingham Program announced today that it has been chosen as one of nine foundations nationwide to receive funding from Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future (PIN), a unique national initiative to help find innovative ways to create an adequate nursing workforce appropriate in size and equipped with the specific skills necessary to meet the changing demands of the 21st century patient population The program provides assistance to local and regional philanthropies to act as catalysts in their own communities and develop strategies for creating and sustaining a viable nursing workforce.
Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future (PIN) is in its fifth year of providing support to local foundations, including the Bingham Program, and aims to discover models that work and can be replicated nationally. The Bingham Program has been awarded a two-year grant of $200,000 to tackle nursing education in Maine including, preparing new nursing graduates with the competencies needed to begin practice in today’s complex healthcare environment. The project will also address Maine’s nursing faculty capacity challenge by expanding opportunities for clinical staff to work as adjunct faculty. The grant will be matched by $200,000 in local and regional funding.
The Bingham Program has forged local partnerships with the Maine Partners in Education and Practice (a statewide collaborative representing healthcare providers and nursing education programs), OMNE – Nursing Leaders of Maine, The Betterment Fund, One Maine Health (a collaborative of Maine Health, Maine General and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems) the University of New England, former State Representative Darlene Curley and the Maine Department of Labor to create solutions to the workforce issues in Maine.
Dr. Susan Sepples from the University of Southern Maine Nursing Program, explained that “Nurses in Maine are on average older than nurses nationally and we consistently turn away qualified applicants from nursing programs across the state due to lack of faculty.” She continued, “Maine must now begin to address our nursing education challenges to produce the competent nursing workforce we need to replace aging professionals who will retire in the coming years. A full 87% of all licensed nurses in Maine are currently employed and the state predicts that the first round of retirements will begin in 2015. Dr. Sepples further noted that the national health care reform effort will expand access to necessary healthcare services throughout Maine, and that nurses across the full spectrum of healthcare will be needed to meet the increasing health care needs across our state”.
Lisa Miller, Senior Program Officer for the Bingham Program noted that, “Maine’s citizens are among the oldest in the nation, increasing the demands placed upon our health care providers at all levels.”. “Modernizing nursing education and curriculum is in the interest of every citizen because nurses are at the forefront of health care provided in Maine,” she said. “The Bingham Program, as a small foundation in Maine, always seeks strategic partnerships with national organizations to further our mission to improve health and health care in our state. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Northwest Health Foundation Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future grant allows us to expand our resources to include nursing workforce development,” Miller added.
The 2010 grant cycle marks the final competitive cycle of this $12 million investment by PIN which has funded partnerships of up to $250,000 each. During the program’s first four years, 88 foundation partners in 32 states established more than 300 local partnerships among nursing organizations, private and public funders and workforce development boards to address the nursing and nurse faculty shortage. The new partners will bring the total number of private philanthropic organizations contributing to the solutions to nearly 100, and expands the number of states represented to 37.
“We know that the overall number of nurses in the U.S. is growing, but there are many issues that need to be addressed in order to create the nursing workforce we need for the future,” said Judith Woodruff, J.D., director of workforce development at the Northwest Health Foundation and program director for Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future. “Investment by local philanthropy is essential for communities to come together to deal with challenges unique to their region or state.”
For more information about Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, visit www.partnersinnursing.org.
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. www.rwjf.org.
Founded in 1997, Northwest Health Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that seeks to advance, support, and promote the health of the people of Oregon and southwest Washington. We achieve our mission through a variety of means, including grant making, technical assistance and training, convening, commissioning research, and supporting policy advocacy. See www.nwhf.org.
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