“We’re here today because we think Temple can be a model for the rest of the Commonwealth when it comes to how we invest in bringing people into nursing and how we retain our nurses,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told attendees at a press conference at Temple Women & Families on March 6th.
Governor Shapiro was there to announce that he would be investing $5 million, as part of his proposed 2025-26 budget, into the Nursing Shortage Assistance Program: an initiative modeled on the Temple Nursing Scholars Program, which guarantees nursing students a job and pays back their student debt while they train at our Health System. In return, students commit to working at Temple Health for three years post-graduation, earning a full salary and benefits.
“In our budget proposal, we’re taking concrete steps to recruit more nurses to Pennsylvania, and to build on our foundation and that of institutions that are doing it right, like Temple,” Governor Shapiro said. “Temple is already doing incredible work in this space: they’ve started an initiative that we want to emulate and build up all across Pennsylvania.”
“Hospitals win, because they get a guaranteed workforce of trained nurses that they can rely on,” he explained. “And nursing students win, because they get their costs offset for their education, and they know they have a path to success in a field they love.”
“There are expected to be 20,000 nursing job vacancies across Pennsylvania by 2026,” Governor Shapiro continued. “The time to act is now. That’s why I put my budget proposal forward, that’s why this team is working so hard to get it passed, and that’s why we’re here at Temple today.”
