Boost for Bronx Nurses

1199 RNs at St Barnabas hospital will benefit from a $5 million subsidy to expand training opportunities and increase retention.

As part of its Nursing Initiative grant program, the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is funding programs to address workforce shortages and reduce burnout across New York State.

St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx plans to spend $5 million of the money it will receive to apply for nursing accreditation programs, which will benefit 1199 nurses there.

Sophia Anglin, an 1199 Delegate and RN at St Barnabas, said: ““If nurses are to perform with the highest skill set, we need the highest quality educators

to bring us to that level.” She is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Informatics – to better analyze data to promote improved health outcomes.

Nadine Williamson, a Senior Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU, said that St Barnabas nurses there are among the lowest paid in the city and added that the accreditation program should help with recruiting and retaining nurses.

“If the nurses feel good, they’re going to give quality health care,” she said, “and the morale of the nurses lifts up the entire team.”

The grants were made to address the severe nursing shortage that existed before the pandemic and that was compounded when emergency rooms were overflowing with coronavirus patients, particularly at safety net hospitals like St. Barnabas where the majority of patients rely on Medicaid or are uninsured.

The foundation targeted its grants to hard-pressed hospitals that wanted to apply for nursing accreditation programs. It said that St. Barnabas and 12 other institutions, including and Montefiore Medical Center, also in the Bronx, would use grant money for programs overseen by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

“There are no safety net hospitals doing these programs because they’re expensive programs,” said Dr. David Perlstein, the president and chief executive of St. Barnabas.

“We can’t compete” with larger hospitals that are affiliated with medical schools “and have the funding to cover programs that should be offered everywhere,” he added.

The hospitals receiving grants will have to undergo rigorous review by the credentialing center to be certified. “We believe there’s a lot of value in the pursuit of accreditation,” said Anupa Fabian, Mother Cabrini’s chief research officer. That “will help hospitals put structures in place that lead to significant improvements in nurse well-being” — and, ultimately, patient care.

Rebecca Graystone, a senior vice president of the credentialing center, said the grants from Mother Cabrini were the most by a private foundation for safety net organizations in the United States.

A study by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Albany, which found that just under half of nurses surveyed in New York State reported symptoms of burnout in 2023. The center also found that retirements were not the only factor in staff shortages. Younger nurses were moving on as well: About 15 percent of hospital nurses between 20 and 39 planned to leave their current jobs within 12 months.

Perlstein said the accreditation program at St. Barnabas would involve “shared governance and engagement” with nurses. The program will also provide more possibilities for career development for nurses “who want to be something more or something else,” he said.

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation was formed several years ago after the sale of Fidelis Care, a managed care company that had been set up by the Roman Catholic Church.