The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently awarded a $699,939 grant to Armstrong State University’s Department of Nursing.

The three-year Advanced Nursing Education Grant (ANE), which began July 1, supports projects that develop and test innovative academic-practice partnership models for clinical training and prepare primary care advanced practice registered nurses to provide safe, quality care within the complex practice environment of the evolving U.S. health care system. Armstrong’s advanced practice RN’s serve in primary care settings as either adult-gerontological or family nurse practitioners.

“This grant will enable us to continue work at St. Mary’s Health Center with St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital System (SJCHS) and to expand to the Good Samaritan Clinic in Garden City,” notes Dr. Anita Nivens, Armstrong’s graduate nursing coordinator and HRSA Project Director. “We will be able to do a lot more good work in the community, offering health care to underserved populations and to individuals in need.”

The Good Samaritan Clinic largely serves uninsured Hispanic and Latino populations. The grant will additionally fund a project in conjunction with the SJCHS emergency department, which will develop primary care medical “homes” for patients who present with non-acute needs in hospital emergency departments.

HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care by strengthening the health care workforce, building healthy communities and achieving health equity. HRSA’s programs provide health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA also supports the training of health professionals, the distribution of providers to areas where they are needed most and improvements in health care delivery.