Florida Community College Applies for Federal Grant To Start Program to Recruit Hispanic Nurses

Officials at Valencia Community College in Florida's Osceola County have applied for a $675,000 federal grant that would help fund a nurse training program aimed at boosting the number of Hispanic nurses in the county, where Hispanics are the "largest and fastest-growing" minority group, the Orlando Sentinel reports. While 33% of the county's residents are Hispanic, just 9% of the nursing students at Valencia Community College are Hispanic, the Sentinel reports. According to Dorothy Catena-Mileto, vice-president and chief nursing officer at Osceola Regional Medical Center, the program would help area hospitals fill the need for "many more" Hispanic nurses. She said, "There is a phenomenal need for bilingual professionals, not just to interpret things, but nurses who are able to relate culturally to patients and truly understand them as well." The nursing program also would help the state with its nursing shortage; in 2001, there were 9,000 unfilled nursing positions statewide. If the grant is approved, Valencia Community College plans to begin a "Pathways Into Nursing" program at three high schools where Hispanics make up 35% to 55% of the student population. The Sentinel reports that the schools were chosen because they have health occupation programs, which help prepare students for medical careers. Under the Pathways Into Nursing program, students would be "coached and prepared" by three "pre-nursing instructors" for admission to Valencia Community College's registered nursing program and would be "encouraged" to join Valencia's Student Nursing Association, take part in campus health fairs and spend time "shadowing" student nurses at the college. After graduation from high school and completion of the mentoring program, the students would be eligible to work as "certified nursing assistants" while they take courses in Valencia's registered nurse program (Moore, Orlando Sentinel, 1/28).