BUFFALO, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side has reported the pandemic battered the health care industry, and it has exposed major staffing shortages, especially for nurses with an estimated 9,300 current job openings in New York state.
So SUNY and Gov. Kathy Hochul are launching a program called Nurses for our Future Scholarship.
2 On Your Side also looked at the University at Buffalo's major involvement in the program.
Just as hospital leaders here in Western New York have been sounding the alarm this week about COVID caused overcapacity issues, they also brought up the staffing problems. We also heard volumes about it from unionized nurses during the now-resolved Mercy Hospital strike for Catholic Health.
So Governor Hochul's announcement for a statewide SUNY scholarship program with up to $7,000 covered tuition for 1,000 new nurses is very welcome news with needed expansion.
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras spoke to us about the importance.
"Allowing our nursing programs -- we have more than 70 of all across New York state including 12 at UB -- to hire critical instructors to meet that demand," he said. "We lack space. Some of our community colleges are turning away applicants, qualified applicants."
UB's School of Nursing at Wende Hall on the South Campus currently has about 200 undergrads as it offers its Bachelor of Science program. And they may pick up other students who are now attending the Licensed Practical Nurse or Certified Nursing Assistant at community colleges such as Niagara County Community College.
Catherine Mann is the Assistant Dean at the UB Nursing School. She says, "We see this really as a way to help students afford college, whether it's continuing education or moving on straight into a bachelor's degree, so we only offer four-year entry to practice degrees at UB."
UB prides itself on having high achieving students on the state licensing program with its hands on lab simulation programs.
Mann told us, "When a patient stops breathing and their heart stops, how do you react in a code situation in the hospital? We practice that in a safe setting so that when they go into practice, should they have this happen, they're ready for that."
Mann added: "We hear from our graduates who are hired right into, at the height of the pandemic, working in COVID units and being prepared to do that. We really do see there are more jobs out there than we have students to fill. I haven't had a student tell me they're looking for a job. They're hired pretty quickly from the program."
And with a 2022 state law mandate for hospitals to adjust patient staffing ratios, which was a point of contention in the Mercy Hospital strike, more nurses will be needed to hit those levels.