DiversityNursing Blog

By  JAMES MARTIN

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan are donating $25 million to the CDC Foundation to help fight the Ebola epidemic, which has taken the lives of more than 4,000 people and continues to rage out of control in West Africa.

The donation will be used for the CDC Ebola response effort in the most severely affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and other areas of the world where the disease poses the greatest threat, the foundation said Tuesday.

"The Ebola epidemic is at a critical turning point," Zuckerberg said Tuesday in a statement posted on Facebook. "It has infected 8,400 people so far, but it is spreading very quickly and projections suggest it could infect 1 million people or more over the next several months if not addressed."

The CDC Foundation says the money will go towards urgent needs on the ground, including equipping community care centers, hiring and training local staff, identifying Ebola cases and tracing contacts, vehicles to be used for specimen transport, burial support, and translation services and communications -- all of which it says are vital to fighting the outbreak.

"The most important step we can take is to stop Ebola at its source," CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a statement. "The sooner the world comes together to help West Africa, the safer we all will be." He said today's "significant contribution from Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan will help us rapidly advance the fight against Ebola."

Source: www.cbsnews.com

By Roberto Scalese

As ambulances screamed away from the finish line Monday, they carried many of the injured to hospitals operated by Partners HealthCare, including Mass General and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Partner's President and CEO Gary L. Gottlieb told workers today that the company will continue its efforts with a $1 million donation to One Fund Boston. 

Spaulding Rehabilitation in Framingham is part of the Partners Healthcare group. 

"We are making this commitment on behalf of and in honor and recognition of every one of our 60,600 men and women who give every moment of every day to support our mission of caring for our patients and their families," wrote Gottlieb Monday in an email to all Partners employees. "Every one of our employees is a member of this community. So let us take this opportunity to stand together to say we will be there to help."

In the email, Gottlieb thanked the doctors and nurses who have worked tirelessly over the past week.

"We know of the extraordinary and immediate response of our doctors, nurses, care teams and the staffs at our hospitals who provided life saving support to the wounded and who will continue to deliver much needed care in the weeks and months ahead. All of our training and preparation for horrific events like this have been widely praised. Even the President made mention of it on his visit to Boston last week," he wrote.

One Fund Boston was established by Mayor Thomas Menino and Governor Deval Patrick as a fund to help the victims of the Marathon bombings. In it's first day alone, the fund raised over $7 million to help defray medical costs for the injured.

Source: Framingham Patch

Benefit Bank of Fort Smith has provided two gifts totaling $300,000 to the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, with university officials saying the gifts will have a positive impact on UAFS students and the community.

A $250,000 professorship – titled the Benefit Bank Endowed Professor of Nursing – will provide a perpetual source of support outside the scope of the University’s regular budget, while a $50,000 gift will fund the Benefit Bank Adult High-Fidelity Simulator, called a “sim-man,” which will be the second such simulator for the UAFS College of Health Sciences.

Bank officials cited a nursing faculty shortage, a shortage of nurses in Arkansas and UAFS nursing laboratory needs in making the gift to UAFS.

Rod Coleman, chair of the Benefit Bank Board of Directors, said the bank plans to be active partners with the College of Health Sciences.

“We congratulate UAFS on what they have done in the past and what they will do in the future to advance health care in the region,” Coleman said in a UAFS-released statement. “We prayerfully hope lives will be changed by our involvement.”

Coleman said UAFS officials have said they find it difficult to find qualified nursing professionals in the region who have the credentials to instruct in a university setting.

“The Benefit Bank Endowed Professor of Nursing will allow the University to recruit and retain faculty that they might not have been able to pursue,” said Coleman. “We are pleased to help UAFS and our community with this gift and with the gift to purchase a sim-man.”

UAFS administrators said having a second sim-man will be a plus for the University. Nursing students currently have a 10:1 ratio of students to in the current “sim man” lab. The new simulator will result in a 5-to-1 ratio.

The Benefit Bank gifts were announced at a recent meeting of the UAFS Foundation Board by Coleman and other Benefit Bank board members, including John Taylor, Rusty Jacobs, Keith Gibson, Dr. Carl Friddle, Leo Anhalt and Benefit Bank president Joe Edwards.

UAFS Chancellor Dr. Paul B. Beran said UAFS considers Benefit Bank’s gift to have major impact on the University.

“This gift will help the University increase the number of students accepted into the nursing program by 20 per year and provide the faculty necessary for the program,” Beran said. “The Benefit Bank endowed professorship will not only help us increase the number of nursing faculty, but it will help our recruiting efforts for hiring qualified nursing faculty members.”

Dr. Carolyn Mosley, dean of the College of Health Sciences, said the gift will be a step toward providing additional registered nurses into healthcare settings in Arkansas.

“Arkansas currently ranks below the national average of registered nurses per 100,000 population,” said Mosley. “Of the six surrounding states, only two have lower percentages of nurses than Arkansas. The nursing shortage is national and worldwide, therefore, Arkansas nursing programs must educate a greater number of nurses to address the state’s current shortages.”

Mosley said UAFS graduates have a 100% employment rate and have an “excellent reputation.”

The Pendergraft Health Sciences Center opened in 2004 and houses programs in nursing, dental hygiene, imaging sciences and surgical technology, as well as the Powell Student Health Clinic and the Counseling Clinic.

Source: The City Wire