On Veterans Day, November 11, 2024, at Independence Live, the Independence Blue Cross Foundation (IBX) saluted veterans pursuing a nursing education through the IBX Foundation Service Scholars program–a first-of-its-kind pathway program that enhances the educational benefits offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Yellow Ribbon Program at participating schools.
The IBX Foundation Service Scholars program provides veterans with support to build a meaningful civilian career and comes at a time when there is a desperate need for more nurses with diverse skills and backgrounds.
Seeking the sense of mission, purpose, and meaning found during military service to our country, veterans integrating into civilian life are fully equipped through their training to function in high-stress conditions and crisis situations, making them ideally suited candidates for the program.
With the desperate need for skilled nurses in our region, along with the importance of expanding opportunities for veterans as they transition into civilian life, IBX Foundation’s Service Scholars Program is a fantastic opportunity for veterans to parlay their military training into a lifelong career with lasting benefits.
Pennsylvania is facing a nursing shortage, with hospitals reporting a 14% vacancy rate for registered nurses, a 19% vacancy rate for nursing support staff, and a 10% vacancy rate for direct care positions. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, over the next decade, fewer than 200,000 nurses will enter the workforce, which is the amount needed to fill only one year of projected openings. In Pennsylvania, the demand for nurses will increase by 9%, putting the commonwealth in the top five with respect to the nursing gap, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This first-of-its-kind nursing education pathway program enables five area nursing schools to advance undergraduate student veterans and addresses workforce shortages. This event recognized five area nursing schools and nearly twenty student veterans in the first cohort of the IBX Foundation Service Scholars program. Service Scholars receive financial support for tuition and other expenses, along with mentoring and career preparation as part of their participation in the program.
The first cohort consisted of Andrea Lawrence, Echelle McArthur, Gianna DeBise, and Lizmara Figueroa of Community College from Philadelphia, Alexa Dingley, Cole Hevener, and Rhonette Robinson from Gwynedd Mercy University, Eric Cox and Javier Torres from Montgomery County Community College, Ana Brunel, Brianna Senatore, Loreana Warner, Michael Davidson, Ronald Raucci, Tiffany Sherman, and Yea Ji Sea from Thomas Jefferson University and, Elizabeth Connelly and Rebekah Deroo from Villanova University.
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