Stan State received a donation from Legacy Health Endowment and Livingston Community Health for $1.6 million for a Family Nurse Practitioners Masters program.

The masters program aims to bring more family nurses to the Central Valley since there is a shortage of primary care medical professionals, not just in the valley, but nationwide. In a research report conducted by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2016, the San Joaquin Valley has the lowest population for primary care professionals. 

Jeffrey Lewis, President and CEO of Legacy Health Endowment, said it is important for the Central Valley to meet the demand for primary care medical professionals. He says a main contributor to the lack of Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) for the valley is the competition from big cities. These cities tend to attract more FNPs due to the higher salary and benefits contracts offered.

“The Central Valley’s value is not well known. We can promote the area by mentioning the affordable housing, the thriving agriculture, and the economic development,” Lewis said. “There are so many positive things here.”

From the donation, almost $1 million will go toward paying tuition for students who agree to work in the one of the 19 zip codes for a minimum of three years.

Lewis called the donation as more of a philanthropic venture.

“Use philanthropy as venture capital, Stan State is a competitive college and has excellent faculty it is an investment in the students and the community,” Lewis said.

The two year FNP Master’s program is rigorous and competitive, for students interested in applying to the graduate program they will need certain requirements to be admitted.

Dr. Carolyn Martin, Director of the FNP Master’s Program, describes the type of candidates they are looking for in this program. The requirements for all applicants is that they have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing, a Registered Nurse license, and a minimum GPA of a 3.0.

There are only 24 seats available for the two year long Masters program. Applications open once a year and are due Aug. 1 and close Aug. 31, and it is a first come, first serve basis.

“This program is an intense full time program. Most programs only do 500 hours of supervised intensive experience but ours requires 675 hours,” Dr. Martin said.  

Brianna Flores (junior, Nursing) is hopeful to join the FNP program after she completes her B.S.N. This opportunity will allow her to help the community that raised her.

“The Stan State Nursing Program has been such an amazing experience for me this past year, and now that there is a Master’s program I am looking forward to staying in this community and working within the community to provide the best family care possible,” Flores said.

For some nursing students the appeal of more opportunities in big cities is a deciding factor for where they choose to practice after they complete their education. 

Candace Kingston (senior, Nursing) plans on going to the Bay Area to work as a Registered Nurse (RN) but she is grateful for all the opportunities that Stan State has given her.

“I want more experience and I want more opportunities in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), my aunt is an ICU nurse and she is my role model for what a great nurse should be like,” Kingston said.

Lewis said that the FNP program will help strengthen the infrastructure within the community and encourage locals to follow their dreams to become a nurse.

“We hope to encourage students who come from local families and want to be nurse that there is a program here to help you get to those goals. And we can provide tuition relief for those students who stay in the community,” Lewis said.

The goals of the program is not only to bring more primary care professionals to the Central Valley, but also to provide more bilingual providers that can communicate within the community to offer quality care to everyone.

The first student in the FNP program started in Jan. 2018 and will be the first graduating class in Spring 2020.