The Heroes into Healthcare: Veterans Entering the Nursing Workforce is a Health Resource Service Administration (HRSA) funded grant initiative which aims to increase the number and percentage of minority and disadvantaged veterans who successfully complete a university-based nursing education and become employed as nurses. Heroes into Healthcare will recruit minority and disadvantaged veterans, many of whom have served in Iraq and Afghanistan as US Army combat medics and US Navy hospital corpsmen. Heroes into Healthcare recognizes that men and women who undergo combat medical training and deployment are of above average intelligence and education and have the potential to successfully complete a nursing program of study. Participants in the program will be will recruited throughout Springfield and Western Massachusetts, and well as New York and Boston, and nationally via a distance learning component. Students enrolled in the Heroes into Healthcare initiative will be provided academic support in the form of tutoring, NCLEX study courses, summer workshops and scholarship opportunities.
Mission: The mission of the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Nursing's Heroes into Healthcare Initiative is:
1) To identify, recruit, and support minority and disadvantaged veterans who are potential nursing candidates in order to assist them in successfully gaining admission to the UMass Amherst College of Nursing.
2) To provide intensive, specialized systems of support to help ensure the success of veterans as they progress through the UMass College of Nursing, including programs to respond to student needs and to expand incorporate veterans' needs and perspectives in the College as a whole.
