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John A. Hartford Foundation and Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence Join Forces to Expand Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program

The Jonas Scholars will use their awards to pursue the goal of becoming academic geriatric nurses, with a special focus on geriatric mental health or community-based care for older adults. The program reflects a shared commitment by the Hartford Foundation and the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence to address the nation's accelerating nursing shortage through faculty development.

"With so many nursing students being turned away because of a lack of faculty, we wanted to focus on encouraging doctoral programs. That's the key ingredient for this problem," said Donald Jonas, co-founder and co-chair of the Advisory Board to the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence. "Hartford is the leader that sets the pace for everybody in this field, and we are thrilled to work with them on a project of such importance to our geriatric population."

"Given our demographics, we urgently need more gero-focused nursing faculty to prepare a health care workforce for the 21^st century," said Rachael Watman, MSW, Senior Program Officer for the John A. Hartford Foundation. "This partnership builds on the geriatrics expertise of our Hartford Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence and the strategic vision of the Jonas Center to support nursing faculty. The field of nursing, and ultimately, the health care of older adults will benefit as a result."

The Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program will provide stipends of $32,000 distributed over two years, with funding coming from the Jonas Center and the Hartford-funded Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) coordinating center, housed at the American Academy of Nursing. Scholars will also receive extensive mentoring and leadership training as part of the annual BAGNC Leadership Conference. The BAGNC coordinating center will provide administrative oversight for the program.

"Older adults will be the primary focus of our health care system for decades to come," said Patricia Archbold, DNSc, RN, program director of BAGNC. "By supporting the development of faculty with geriatrics expertise, the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program and Hartford are tackling one of the most pressing health care issues of our times."

About the John A. Hartford Foundation

Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation (www.jhartfound.org) is a committed champion of health care training, research, and service system innovations that will ensure the well-being and vitality of older adults. Its overall goal is to increase the nation's capacity to provide effective, affordable care to its rapidly increasing older population. Today, the Foundation is America's leading philanthropy with a sustained interest in aging and health.

About the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence

Founded in February of 2006, the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence (www.jonascenter.org) is supported by the Barbara and Donald Jonas Family Fund. Its mission is to advance professional nursing through grant making and programs that improve nurse recruitment and retention, increase ethnic and racial diversity among the nursing workforce, advance innovative practice models, and improve practice settings in New York City.

About the American Academy of Nursing

The American Academy of Nursing (www.aannet.org) anticipates and tracks national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of health care knowledge and policy. The Academy's mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge.

Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence
Regine Dunne, Program Officer
212-609-1583
RegineDunn@JonasCenter.org
or
John A. Hartford Foundation
Rachael Watman, Senior Program Officer
212-832-7788
rachael.watman@jhartfound.org
or
American Academy of Nursing
Patty Franklin, BAGNC Program Manager
202-777-1172
Pfranklin@aannet.org