Foundation seeking donors to support low-income and first-generation students striving to pursue nursing careers as shortages grow
December 2, 2022 – Palm Health Foundation announced today that it will match donations to its Nursing Advancement Fund dollar for dollar between November 29, 2022, and January 31, 2023, up to $150,000 in total. The match program is open to anyone who donates between $100 and $5,000 to support the aspirations of low-income and first-generation nursing students in LPN, undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate programs in Palm Beach County. The campaign follows the foundation’s recent success raising and matching over $100,000 in gifts for behavioral health professions scholarships.
Palm Health Foundation’s scholarships come at a time when the Florida Hospital Association and the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida is predicting a catastrophic nursing shortage in the state by 2035. The foundation’s scholarships address several needs for growing and diversifying the workforce pipeline, including increasing faculty and graduating health professionals with cultural competencies.
Many Palm Health Foundation scholars’ lived experiences inspire them to pursue nursing careers. When Dalissa Suprina learned she had received a Debra Coffman Howe Nursing Scholarship, a donor advised fund at Palm Health Foundation, she burst into tears. After losing her mother in the 2010 earthquake that impacted Haiti, Suprina became a caregiver to her grandmother at age 12 and discovered her life’s purpose was to become a nurse. The scholarship she received will support her career goal to become a wound care nurse and nurse practitioner working with the elderly. Recognizing the generosity of Coffman Howe, Suprina said, “you have to have a big heart to do this for other people and allow students like me to have opportunity. Her scholarship saved me. It was a miracle.”
Since 2001, the foundation has granted more than $3 million in miracles in the form of nursing scholarships to over 1,000 nursing students for advanced education. Palm Health Foundation scholarships are made possible by the generosity of donors, many of whom have established donor advised funds, such as Debra Coffman Howe, and through donations to the The Nursing Advancement Fund.
To maximize support for local nursing students, and have your gift doubled by Palm Health Foundation, please visit palmhealthfoundation.org/the-nursing-advancement-fund or contact Carrie Browne, Director of Stewardship & Strategic Partnerships, carrieb@phfpbc.org, 561-837-2281. Donors may also create their own uniquely named scholarship fund to transform the lives of deserving students through the gift of higher education.
About Palm Health Foundation
Palm Health Foundation is Palm Beach County’s community foundation for health. With the support of donors and a focus on results, the foundation builds strong community partnerships, respects diverse opinions, advocates for its most vulnerable neighbors and inspires innovative solutions to lead change for better health now and for generations to come. The foundation supports health equity for Palm Beach County residents of all backgrounds, heritage, education, incomes and states of well-being. Palm Health Foundation has invested more than $89 million in Palm Beach County health since 2001. For more information about Palm Health Foundation, visit palmhealthfoundation.org or call (561) 833-6333.
