Honoring Independence Blue Cross for its proactive leadership in addressing the nursing shortage by creating the Nurse Scholars Program.

WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projects an 800,000 national shortfall of working nurses by the year 2020 and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates one million registered nurse positions will be vacant by 2010; and

WHEREAS, Since 1995,

the American Association of Colleges of Nursing has confirmed that college nursing programs have been forced to turn away more than 11,000 qualified students due to limited faculty, clinical sites, and classroom space; and

WHEREAS, With more than 78 million baby boomers poised to retire, the need for nurses is about to increase dramatically and nursing educators say the biggest obstacle to increasing the number of nurses is the availability of nursing faculty; and

WHEREAS, To combat the critical shortage of nursing instructors and nurses in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross has created the Nurse Scholars Program, a three-year, $3 million dollar program to support graduate and undergraduate nursing education; and

WHEREAS, This year, 29 area colleges and universities have received grants from the Nurse Scholars Program and, through the Program, approximately 575 graduate and undergraduate students have received scholarships; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Health Management Corporation and the National Nursing Centers Consortium have honored Independence Blue Cross and its President and CEO, G. Fred DiBona, Jr., with the Carl Moore Leadership Award and the Public Health Award respectively, for leadership in the creation of the Nurse Scholars Program; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor Independence Blue Cross for its proactive leadership in addressing the nursing shortage by creating the Nurse Scholars Program.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this eesolution be presented to a representative of Independence Blue Cross as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

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