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Press Release

For Immediate Release
June 26, 2008
Contact: Sean C. Bonyun
(202) 225-3761

Upton Secures $300K for Scholarships to Tackle Nursing Shortage in Kalamazoo
Distance Learning program will allow folks to pursue specialized Wayne State degree for mental health & substance abuse locally in exchange for commitment to remain in SW Michigan
Program provides important opportunity in face of skyrocketing gas prices

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) has secured $300,000 in support of Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services’ nursing distance learning initiative.  Southwest Michigan overall is a medically underserved area with a shortage of nurses, but the region also has a critical need for nurses with advanced training to meet community mental health needs. Local nurses who sign up for the distance learning program will receive scholarships in exchange for a commitment to remain and serve their southwest Michigan communities.  Upton secured the funding in the House Health and Human Services spending bill that is pending consideration.

“The bottom line is that we need more nurses here in southwest Michigan, especially nurses in the field of mental illness and substance abuse,” said Upton.  “With skyrocketing fuel costs, many folks who are interested in the program can’t afford to travel back and forth to Detroit to pursue the specialized, three-year nursing degree – this distance learning program opens a new world of opportunity.  This program gets to the heart of our nursing shortage – providing a valuable opportunity for individuals to receive advanced training in the field of mental health and substance abuse in their own backyard, and our community will retain specialized nurses to improve the public health.”

Jeff Patton, Executive Director of Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services added, “As a public community mental health agency, the mental health and overall health care of our region would be very much enhanced with the addition of nurses with advanced practice skills in psychiatric-mental health and/or public health nursing.  We are grateful to have Congressman Upton’s support in these efforts to improve health care for the residents of the southwest Michigan.”

Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will partner with Wayne State University’s School of Nursing, the only nursing school in Michigan offering an Advanced Psychiatric and Community Public Health Nurse Practitioner degree program.  The partnership between Kalamazoo and Wayne State will bring the opportunity through the use of distance learning technology for nurses in Kalamazoo and surrounding communities to participate in this three-year program right in their home communities, rather than have to travel across the state to Detroit.

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