Foundation dedicated to growing health workforce in Palm Beach County as state shortages loom.
West Palm Beach, Fla.– Palm Health Foundation, Palm Beach County’s community foundation for health, will open applications for nursing and mental/behavioral health scholarships on November 1, 2021. The scholarships are administered by the George Snow Scholarship Fund and encourage individuals with financial need to enter and advance in the nursing and mental/behavioral health professions. Applicants must be residents of Palm Beach, Broward or Martin County, Florida, and apply by the February 1, 2022 deadline. The application, eligibility criteria and instructions are available on the George Snow Scholarship Fund website at www.scholarship.org.
Palm Health Foundation’s scholarships come at a time when the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is predicting a catastrophic nursing shortage in the state by 2035 and data from Kaiser Family Foundation shows the current supply of Florida’s working mental health professionals meets only 16.9% of the state’s need.
“There is a perfect storm brewing across Florida as our nursing and behavioral health workforce shrinks while our population and behavioral health needs increase,” said Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of Palm Health Foundation. “The pandemic has only added to the crisis with nurses leaving the field and both children and adults experiencing increased levels of stress and anxiety but unable to find professional care.”
One of the nursing workforce solutions cited by the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is to increase the number of nurse faculty opportunities. Palm Health Foundation’s scholarships address a range of shortages, including faculty, by providing needs-based scholarships to nurses in undergraduate, graduate and doctorate programs.
Behavioral health professions scholarships address a range of needs as well by providing financial support to those seeking bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work, psychology, clinical mental health counseling, school counseling and other focus areas. The foundation’s investment in the behavioral health workforce is aligned with the goals of its Brain Health Innovation Fund to advance brain health in Palm Beach County.
“Our community of donors has recognized the importance of advancing our health professions workforce in Palm Beach County by joining with us to support dedicated students with the desire to serve,” said McNamara. “We are grateful for their support and encourage others to advance health for all by contributing to our Nursing Advancement Fund or creating their own personal donor advised fund in support of nursing, behavioral health, or any health-related cause to benefit Palm Beach County.
Palm Health Foundation has granted more than $3 million in nursing scholarships to over 1,000 nursing students for advanced education since its founding in 2001 due to the generosity of donors and the foundation’s commitment to nursing advancement in Palm Beach County. For more information about Palm Health Foundation scholarships, please contact Leslie Cornwell at [email protected], 561-347-6799, or Channon Ellwood at [email protected], 561-347-6799 at the George Snow Scholarship Fund.
About Palm Health Foundation
Palm Health Foundation is Palm Beach County’s community foundation for health. With the support of donors and a focus on results, the foundation builds strong community partnerships, respects diverse opinions, advocates for its most vulnerable neighbors and inspires innovative solutions to lead change for better health now and for generations to come. The foundation supports health equity for Palm Beach County residents of all backgrounds, heritage, education, incomes and states of well-being. Palm Health Foundation has invested more than $85 million in Palm Beach County health since 2001. For more information about Palm Health Foundation, visit palmhealthfoundation.org or call (561) 833-6333.