BHSH System, the parent company of Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health, announced Thursday it will provide $20 million to Oakland University to educate nurses in the hopes of alleviating a shortage.
The state's largest health system will invest $10 million toward student grants and $10 million over the next five years to expand infrastructure, including labs, classrooms, equipment and faculty, the organizations said in a press release.
"The nursing shortage in our state is a critical and complex challenge that must be solved with bold and collaborative solutions," Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of BHSH System, said in a press release. "We are proud of our long-standing partnership with Oakland University and to have this amazing opportunity to invest in talented, compassionate people who want to become nurses. We are incredibly excited about the impact the BHSH Beaumont Health Nurse Scholar program will have in healthcare and for our communities."
Students that receive a grant in the program will be required to work for BHSH for two years following graduation.
Hospitals and healthcare providers across the state have been suffering from a lack of nurses for years, but that problem was exacerbated during the pandemic when many nurses left the field. Roughly one-in-five healthcare workers left or retired from the field between the start of the pandemic in 2020 and November 2021, according to a survey from research company Morning Consult.