PLEASANTVILLE, NY – In a press conference today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced a $1.1 million federal grant to help alleviate the region’s nursing shortage.  This grant will provide support for a nurse training partnership among Pace University's Lienhard School of Nursing, the Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association (NorMet), and an alliance of local workforce investment boards in the Hudson Valley region.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland), who wrote to the Department of Labor last November in support of the grant application, applauded today’s announcement.  Lowey gave the following statement at the press conference:

“Good afternoon.  Thank you Secretary Chao for being here today with this wonderful news for our community.  

“I would like to thank Dr. Harriet Feldman, Dean and Professor at the Lienhard School of Nursing at Pace University, who has been such a tremendous champion of nurses.  Dr. Feldman came to Washington just a few weeks ago to testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and I want to thank her again for doing so much to raise awareness about the looming nursing shortage we face across the country.

“Actually, we currently have two shortages in nursing.

“First is the overall shortage in numbers of nurses.  The second is the shortage of faculty to educate and train nursing students.

“This seems a little like a chicken-egg conundrum – without enough educators in this field, we can’t train more nurses.  And without more nurses, we can’t expect more faculty to rise out of the ranks of nurses.

“That is why this funding is so important.  It will allow Pace University, Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, and an alliance of workforce investment boards in our region to work together to educate more qualified nursing students.  This funding illustrates what we can accomplish as when we pool our resources, work together, and seek out innovative solutions to our problems.  I am proud to have been an early supporter of this effort.

“This grant is a win-win-win for our area.  More nurses will be trained to support our existing health care providers, more students will have access to careers in nursing, and more patients will receive quality nursing care.

“I’ll continue to push for even greater resources for our nursing schools through my Nurse Education, Expansion and Development Act which would authorize grants to nursing schools to improve their ability to educate nursing students.  And I’ll support efforts, like this grant, to coordinate our regional resources to meet this pressing need.

“Thank you again Secretary Chao for coming here to make this announcement today.  We hope you come back often – and with similar good news!”

Last year, Congresswoman Lowey secured over $600,000 in federal appropriations for area nursing programs, including $104,000 for Pace University’s Nursing Middle School Students Scholars program.