My City Wellness Winter 2022

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Partnership with GVSU Provides McLaren Flint Minority Nurses Funding to Continue Education and Advance Careers

such as graduating from a high school that performs lower than the state average; or have an economic disadvantage, such as receiving public assistance or a household income below the average low-income. In addi- tion to the HRSA funds, GVSU o ers a number of student scholarships and McLaren o ers tuition reimbursement. e NWD grant is the second grant that McLaren and GVSU received from HRSA. In 2019, the academic-practice partnership was awarded the Advancing Nursing Workforce Education grant ($2,799,987 with 0% nanced with non-gov- ernmental sources). McLaren hopes to provide more opportu- nity for nurses across the corpo- ration for continued profession- al growth in the future. “We look forward to more grant opportunities with GVSU in the future, continuing to provide educational and train- ing support for nurses from the communities we serve. It’s just been great to be able to o er these educational opportunities to our nurses,” said Dr. Zajac. ® About McLaren Flint McLaren Flint is a 378-bed tertiary teaching facility serving the medical needs of residents in greater Genesee County and Mideast Michigan. McLaren Flint is affiliated with Michigan State Uni- versity College of Human Medicine in its medical residency programs including family practice, internal medicine, gen- eral surgery and orthopedic surgery. McLaren Flint also maintains vascular surgery, health psychology and cardiol- ogy fellowship programs in partnership with Michigan State University. McLaren Flint has a rich history of providing high quality, compassionate health care. Learn more at mclaren.org/flint.

FLINT – ree McLaren Flint nurses are among the rst to take advantage of a continued partnership between McLaren Health Care and Grand Valley State University (GVSU). e Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) grant allows GVSU to fund educational opportunities for nurses from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepre- sented minority groups. rough the funds provided from the grant, McLaren nurses will have the majority of their tuition costs covered to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Mas- ter of Science in Nursing (MSN) and/or Doctor of Nursing Prac- tice as a Health Systems Leader at GVSU’s Kirkhof College of Nursing between the 2021 and 2024 academic years. “ is is a great opportunity for McLaren nurses from diverse backgrounds to continue their education and advance their careers within our organization,” explained Lisa Zajac, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, OCN, Director of Clinical Informatics at McLaren Health Care. “ e bachelor’s degree program is online with some in-person practicum experiences. e master’s and doctoral programs are hybrid, so the students will go to Grand Valley once a month while

continuing the rest of their ed- ucation online. eir practicum experiences are in-person within the McLaren organization.” Sojourner Green is an RN at McLaren Flint and one of the three nurses who have started classes through the NWD grant. Pursuing her BSN, Green grew up in Flint and has been part of the community her entire life. A er seeing the number of African American patients a ected by COVID in her unit at the hospital, she wondered how she could help. “When I found out about the grant, I thought, maybe this could be my opportunity to do some- thing bigger than myself. is is a huge discount for me to be able to further my education,” said Green. “I think it is important for McLaren to give back to the community in this way, so that we can better serve our community and community members can see representation of themselves within the corporation.” In the future, Green hopes to receive her MSN and become a community health nurse. To be eligible for the grant, nurses must meet one of the following requirements: be from an underrepresented minority group; come from an education- ally disadvantaged background,

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