(OVERLAND PARK, KS) -- Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District - Kansas) today announced that MidAmerica Nazarene University has received a $722,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the purchase of equipment and training materials associated with the expansion of its nursing program.

The funding will allow the MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU) nursing program to purchase state-of-the-art equipment to expand its nursing biological sciences program, and will be used primarily for upgrades to microbiology, anatomy, genetics, and technical nursing equipment.

“Given the highly specialized training required for nursing education, it’s more important than ever that nursing students receive proper experience with modern equipment before entering the workforce,” said Congressman Moore. “This funding will allow the MidAmerica Nazarene University nursing program to acquire the modern equipment it needs to expand its program and provide students with necessary skills.”

The funding will also help the MNU nursing program in its efforts to accommodate a growing number of students. Data shows that recruiting new registered nurses is becoming progressively more difficult, particularly in the state of Kansas, where the supply of nurses is not keeping pace with demand. In fact, a recent Kansas Department of Labor study estimated that Kansas will need 11,350 new registered nurses by 2010 to keep up with workforce demand and open positions from retirements.

This problem is compounded by the fact that many overburdened nursing programs are forced to turn away potential students because the demand for enrollment exceeds program capacity. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported that nearly 500 students were turned away from twelve Kansas baccalaureate nursing programs during the 2004-05 academic year. The nursing department at MNU is among those programs with a high enrollment demand, which has grown 69% from the 2004-05 to the 2005-06 academic year.

“With this critical funding, the MidAmerica Nazarene nursing program will be able to continue serving Johnson County and the State of Kansas by producing some of the most talented and skilled nurses in the area,” said Congressman Moore.

“The University’s vision is to place highly skilled, service-oriented persons in positions of leadership in the communities we serve. This grant will greatly assist our nursing education program to fulfill that vision through a new generation of nursing professionals equipped for 21st Century healthcare in hospitals, clinics, schools and neighborhood centers,” said Dr. Ed Robinson, President of MidAmerica Nazarene University. “We are grateful for Congressman Moore’s initiative in helping us make that vision a reality.”

Congressman Moore has continually supported legislation that would address the critical nationwide nursing shortage. He is a currently a cosponsor of H.R. 3173, the Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act. This legislation would allow nursing programs to form partnerships with health care facilities that allow nursing programs to draw on the expertise of experienced nurses while allowing those hospitals to retain its staff of experienced nurses.

Congressman Moore was also a strong supporter of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which was signed into law on August 1, 2002. This important legislation promotes the recruitment and retention of nurses by providing scholarships to students who agree to serve in an area with a critical nursing shortage, as well as loan forgiveness for a student’s graduate studies loans if they later teach at a school of nursing. Since it was signed into law, Congressman Moore has continued to fight to ensure that this law is adequately funded.