$10,000 Grant for Minority Student Nurse Mentoring

October 13, 2005 - Mercy Health Partners, Hackley Hospital and the Muskegon Community College Nursing Program have received a $10,000 grant from the Michigan Center for Nursing. This grant, Project Reach Out, supports minority nursing students currently enrolled in the MCC nursing program.

Hospital-based minority nurses from MHP and Hackley Hospital have been recruited into Project Reach Out, and will be provided with the support, education and tools required to be successful mentors. In assuming the role of mentor, these professionals will commit to developing relationships with minority students from the MCC Nursing Program, becoming their partner and assisting them to overcome challenges and barriers to success. Program Director Pamela Brown, MSN, says “Inviting minority nursing students to participate with professional groups that reflect diversity is crucial to decreasing student isolation and promoting a culturally diverse nursing profession. We appreciate the talent and dedication of the RN mentors who are reaching out to help us retain our minority students.”

Project Reach Out addresses the need for diversity among nurses to better represent the population of Muskegon. As of April 2005, MHP had 4.2% and Hackley Hospital had 3.9% minority nurses employed by each hospital. Muskegon County demographic data shows that minorities comprise of 20.5% of the county population.

“Cultural differences strengthen the very fabric of our community,” says Ronald F. Haase, Hackley Hospital Senior Vice President of Human Resources. “Strengthening the diversity of our nursing staff will help us better mirror the community we serve.”

This mentoring program assists minority nursing students to work through day to day problems towards completion of the Associate Degree in Nursing and to work as RN’s in the Muskegon area upon completion of their education.

“Nursing is all about deeply understanding the needs of the patient and planning care to meet those unique needs,” says Gay Landstrom, MSN, Vice President of Patient Care Services at MHP. “Muskegon and the entire nation have long had a shortage of minority nurse - our nurses to a large extent do not look like our patients! This program offers us the chance to help develop minority nurses who will be able to better understand the unique needs of our patients, providing some relief to the emerging nursing shortage and better care for the community.”

Evaluation of this program will be done jointly between the organizations. Hiring data from MHP and Hackley will be available to track the success of this program. Attrition and retention data will be provided by the MCC Nursing Program to track the minority students who participate. Both MHP and Hackley Hospital will track the numbers of these minority nurses hired into the hospitals over the next 1-2 years. A survey of participants will be used to measure program satisfaction as well as to identify barriers and successes in nurse minority retention. Findings will be presented at the Michigan State Nursing Summit in 2006.