MSU receives Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Collaborative grant 

To address the state's healthcare workforce shortage, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) launched the Healthcare Workforce Collaborative (HWC) to distribute $8 million in grants to Kentucky's public two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Morehead State University was among the universities that received grant funding for $294,600.   

The grants, funded by an appropriation from the General Assembly, will help the institutions expand their programs and provide student support to get more frontline healthcare workers trained and into the workforce.  

"We are pleased to work with CPE on creating a stronger pipeline of healthcare graduates from Morehead State and we believe that this grant will assist significantly," said MSU President Dr. Jay Morgan. 

Dr. Christopher Beckham, who works with special projects and strategic initiatives, said the plan revolves around four key areas:   

• Expansion of clinical sites for healthcare students.   
  
• Support for faculty acquisition and retention for key healthcare areas.   
  
• Wrap-around support for faculty, staff, and students.   
  
• Expansion of educational pipelines for secondary and post-secondary students to enter healthcare education programs.  
  

"The HWC grant funds enable MSU to expand its capacity to educate healthcare graduates who can hit the ground running in various healthcare settings," Beckham said.  

Currently, the state is operating 12-20% short of the needed nursing staff, with estimates of more than 16,000 additional nurses needed by 2024.  

The HWC explicitly targets rural areas of Kentucky to develop training programs and will also prioritize training for other frontline healthcare professionals ranging from doctors and physicians' assistants to mental health practitioners and medical social workers.  

Dr. Wayne Miller, dean of the College of Science, said MSU would use the funds to increase enrollment in the University's nursing and imaging sciences programs while building more clinical sites, which can decrease student travel and alleviate financial barriers to enrollment. There will also be collaborations with St. Claire HealthCare and the Area Health Education Center (AHEC).   

"Within a short period of time, the next year, two, three years, four years, they will have our programs up and running at capacity, maintaining that capacity," Miller said. "We will have more students who graduated and have a stronger workforce."  

For more information on MSU's nursing programs, contact nursingdept@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-2296.  

To learn more about imaging sciences programs at MSU, contact kh@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-2180.