The Institute for Nursing and Allied Health Advancement, a college initiative housed at the Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, focuses on addressing critical workforce shortages in nursing and allied health fields within the region. This collaborative effort brings together educational institutions and health care organizations.

“At a time when our communities face urgent health care staffing shortages, PHSC is proud to lead the way in developing collaborations that will work to increase the pipeline for both highly qualified faculty and expertly trained employees in the nursing and allied health care fields,” said Eric Hall, Ed.D., PHSC president.

Recently, Orlando Health, Inc., established a fund to support nursing and health care services with a gift of $500,000 to the PHSC Foundation. “We’re excited about this new alliance with Pasco-Hernando State College,” said Andy Gardiner, senior vice president of external affairs and community relations, Orlando Health. “Our contribution is not only an investment into the future of nursing, but also an investment into health care throughout the region.”

A special check presentation and reception to recognize this donation will be held on Thursday, August 28 at 10 a.m. at the PHSC Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch Conference Center (B303), 2727 Mansfield Blvd., Wesley Chapel. Guest speakers include: Randy Maggard, state representative, District 54; Danny Burgess, state senator, District 23; Eric Hall, Ed.D., president, PHSC; Lisa Richardson, Ed.D., vice president of advancement innovation and strategic partnerships, PHSC; and Andy Gardiner, senior vice president of external affairs and community relations, Orlando Health.
Last year PHSC received $1.5M in state appropriations to establish The Institute for Nursing and Allied Health Advancement. The mission of the institute is to cultivate a thriving heath care workforce in the region by fostering innovative partnerships, conducting impactful research and providing exceptional education and training in nursing and allied health fields.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $9.6 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for Central Florida’s only pediatric and adult Level I Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of one of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care units, one of the only systems in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows.

The 3,487-bed system includes 33 hospitals and emergency departments – 26 of which are currently operational with seven coming soon. The system also includes nine specialty institutes, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility under the management of Acadia Healthcare, and more than 375 outpatient facilities that include physician clinics, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. More than 4,950 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 29,000 team members and more than 1,400 physicians.

In FY 23, Orlando Health cared for 197,000 inpatients and 6.6 million outpatients. The healthcare system provided nearly $1.3 billion in total impact to the communities it serves in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 22, the most recent period for which this information is available.

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