Sequoia Healthcare District Grants SFSU-Cañada Nursing Program $1.69 Million in New Funds

Nursing students working in the Cañada lab.

Earlier this month, the directors of the Sequoia Healthcare District granted a three-year funding extension totaling $1.69 million to continue support for the San Francisco State University nursing program offered at Cañada College.

This new support supplements the original grant of $1 million a year for 10 years and extends the bachelor degree program through 2017.

The request for additional funding was prepared and submitted by a partnership of administrators and faculty from San Francisco State University, Cañada College, Sequoia Hospital, and the Sequoia Hospital Foundation. Lucy Salcido Carter, director of the Center for International and University Studies, represented Cañada College in the partnership. The partners met regularly for six months to discuss program outcomes, review nursing workforce trends, develop a revised budget, and draft the proposal.

In October, the partnership initially presented its intent to submit a new request for funding. At that meeting, Ron Galatolo, chancellor of the San Mateo County Community College District, and Tom Mohr, retired president at Cañada College, stressed the importance of the program and the opportunities it brings SMCCCD graduates and the Cañada community. The board discussion in that meeting centered on the declining need for nurses and the increasing demands for funding from other healthcare organizations in the Sequoia Healthcare District. In subsequent partnership meetings, the partners revised the proposal to respond to these concerns.

The goal of the original $10 million grant was to address a shortage of nurses in the Sequoia Healthcare District by providing a local opportunity for District residents to receive a bachelor degree in nursing.

The program has been extremely successful in fulfilling its goal. Ninety-five percent of students complete the program, with 93 percent of these graduates passing the National Council Licensure Examination. More than half of program graduates serve Sequoia Healthcare District residents at a variety of facilities including Sequoia Hospital, San Mateo Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Stanford Hospital, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, public schools, and nursing care centers.

The new agreement pays 56 percent of student tuition for 32 students for three years and covers program costs including Cañada College facilities use, as well as infrastructural and administrative support.