The Foundation For California Community Colleges Recipient Of $15 Million Endowment By Wellpoint
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 6 /PRNewswire/ -. The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has announced that it has received a $15 million endowment from WellPoint, Inc. to support the expansion of nursing programs at community colleges throughout the state of California. The contribution is part of a commitment made by the company when WellPoint Health Networks merged with Anthem Inc. to create the nation's largest health plan.
As the healthcare industry continues to struggle with the nursing shortage, the state's colleges are also struggling to keep nursing programs open to meet the growing demand by students who want to pursue careers in nursing. In fact, California ranks 49th in the country in the ratio of registered nurses per population, and 46,000 additional nurses will be needed by 2006.
According to Brenda Epperly RN, MSN, director of healthcare programs at the Foundation for California Community Colleges, a startling 32,000 qualified students nationwide were turned away because there was not enough education capacity at the colleges to accept them. "It's extremely disappointing to see this many students, who are qualified to begin a nursing program, be turned away because colleges lack the educational capacity to accept them, particularly in light of the nursing shortage that we are facing nationally and regionally."
The endowment established with the WellPoint donation will provide matching funds to Governor Schwarzenegger's Nursing Education Initiative grants awarded in October of 2005. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi required the endowment commitment from WellPoint before he would approve the merger. "These funds will help provide the critical education and training needed for caregivers on the front line of healthcare," said Commissioner Garamendi. "I'm pleased that so many will benefit from this important new healthcare resource."
College awardees can use the funds for a variety of eligible projects that support the expansion of their programs, such as building projects, nursing faculty salaries, human patient simulators and supplies, nursing faculty retention programs or nursing scholarships. "The endowment will help increase the quality of nursing education in the state of California," said Epperly. Improved educational capacity will give colleges the ability to take in more students and provide better-trained nurses for the future, added Epperly.
"This initiative has been gaining momentum ever since the Governor made his commitment to expand nursing education programs and increase the annual number of nursing graduates in our state," said Cindy Ehnes, Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care, who also approved the inclusion of these funds in last year's merger agreement. "Comprehensive nurse training programs will help increase access to healthcare services for all Californians."
"We recognize that the nursing shortage can only be addressed if the capacity to provide quality educational programs exists," said Dave Helwig, President and CEO, WellPoint West Region. "We at WellPoint want to ensure the medical needs of those in the state are not compromised by the lack of available academic programs; we are hopeful that our contribution can help shape and develop countless nursing programs across the state."
To date grants have been awarded to seven colleges: American River College/Sacramento City College, Santa Barbara City College, Napa Valley College/Solano Community College, Golden West College, City College of San Francisco, Santa Ana College and Grossmont College. Each school will receive $500,000 over the next five years.
Each year the schools will be required to provide a report to the FCCC WellPoint Nursing Endowment Advisory group detailing the use the grant and the impact it is making to their college nursing programs.
"Contributions like the one by WellPoint are how we're going to address the educational capacity in the long term," said Epperly. "The nursing shortage isn't going away any time soon."
About the Foundation for California Community Colleges
Foundation for California Community Colleges is the sole official auxiliary to the California Community Colleges' Board of Governors, Chancellor, and System Office. The Foundation for California Community Colleges is a team of dedicated people who work within a unique structure that enables it to bring expertise and resources to benefit, support and enhance the missions of the California Community College System. Additional information about the Foundation for California Community Colleges is available at http://www.foundationccc.org .
About WellPoint, Inc.
WellPoint, Inc. is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States. WellPoint, Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan counties and as Blue Cross, or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at http://www.wellpoint.com .
Foundation for California Community CollegesCONTACT: Foundation for California Community Colleges Contact: BrendaEpperly, +1-916-325-8567, bepperly@foundationccc.org ; WellPoint Contact:Leslie Porras, +1-805-557-6745, leslie.porras@wellpoint.com