Faced with the nationwide nursing shortage, many healthcare providers across the country have developed innovative approaches to attract and retain nursing staff. At Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, it was a local family that provided the impetus for a unique incentive program to address the shortage. 

Called Nursing Promise, the program was initiated by Sean and Martha Dugan, neighbors of the hospital and residents of Sleepy Hollow for more than 20 years. Both were keenly aware of the nursing shortage as a result of the work they do. Sean is a lawyer who defends hospitals, doctors and nurses in liability claims, and he serves on the Phelps Board of Directors. Martha is employed as a secretary for the Department of Pain Management at Phelps and also serves as a volunteer. 

"The hospital already had an excellent tuition reimbursement program for employees to go to nursing school, but many intelligent people on staff couldn't afford to work part-time while pursuing a degree," says Sean Dugan. "Martha and I came up with the idea to make up the difference in salary so that they could pursue their dream of becoming nurses."

In 2004, the Dugans proposed to their children, Shivaun, Brandon and Ann Veronica, who were in elementary, middle and high school at the time, that they forgo their winter vacation that year and instead provide the seed money for the program. The children agreed, and the Nursing Promise program was born.

The focus of Nursing Promise is to help Phelps employees who want to pursue a nursing degree full-time to balance home life, work and school. The hospital does this by offering qualified candidates part-time employment, tuition reimbursement (up to $5,000 a year) and continued healthcare coverage. Each candidate also has access to a Phelps nurse who serves as a mentor and career counselor.

In return, employees who participate in the program must commit to completing their education within two years, either an Associate's degree in nursing or the final two years of a Bachelor's degree in nursing. Upon graduation, they must also agree to work at Phelps full-time for a minimum of two years.

"Nursing Promise has been well received by employees, and now the program is getting support from other donors in the community. It's attractive because it's a way of directly benefiting our community hospital and the people it serves," says Dugan, who continues to donate to the program twice a year. "This is our little effort to begin to address the nursing shortage. Hopefully other hospitals will take heed."

Phelps recently announced the five Nursing Promise Scholars for 2009. They are:

  
• Adria Chen, of the Bronx, medical/surgical technician
    
  
• Nerissa Douglas, of Ossining, medical technologist from the Laboratory Department
    
  
• Blessen George, of Yonkers, medical/surgical technician
    
  
• Una Healy, of Yonkers, Health Unit Coordinator
    
  
• Susan Taylor, of Hawthorne, medical/surgical technician
  

For information on ways to donate to the Nursing Promise program at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, please call 914-366-3108 or go to www.PhelpsHospital.org.

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center is a 235-bed community hospital with 450 medical staff, representing 34 clinical specialties. Phelps is the exclusive Westchester satellite for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a clinical affiliate of Mount Sinai Hospital.