Six community college nursing programs have received funding from a UA program to help combat Arizona's nursing shortage.

The Arizona Area Health Education Center, founded by the UA Health Sciences Center, and Campaign for Caring teamed up to provide funding for community college nursing programs.

AzAHEC is a community-based nonprofit organization that is administered through the UA Health Sciences Center. AzAHEC focuses on improving the access to health care for rural and underserved communities through recruitment and distribution of health care providers.

The effort is in response to a shortage of nurses in the workforce.

"More people enter nursing and decide the work environment is such that they don't want to be a nurse," said Dana Terry, associate director of resource management with AzAHEC.

Awards of $25,000 to $50,000 were given to the schools on Jan. 1 by AzAHEC, using funds from the Proposition 204 Tobacco Tax law and other charities.

These grant recipients include Arizona Western College in Yuma, Cochise Community College in Douglas, Coconino Community College in Flagstaff, Mohave Community College in Lake Havasu City, Northland Pioneer College in Holbrook, Pima Community College in Tucson and Yavapai College in Prescott.

Yavapai turned down the funding.

The community colleges developed a budget and presented their different programs in a mini-grant proposal. Campaign for Caring evaluated and ranked the colleges to decide which would receive the money.

"We chose the programs with more bark for the buck and based on systems that worked with evidence-based approaches," Terry said.

Of the 13, six were not chosen and are instead working with regional AzAHEC offices to improve their programs.

The programs that received funding also had to show they will have measurable improvements within the next calendar year.

The programs are still in their start-up phases and beginning to implement the money.

"Some are using it for new hardware and software in their systems, and it is going into effect," Terry said.

Cochise College plans to use its funding to expand its interactive TV lectures for students traveling from Benson, Willcox and Sierra Vista to the various campuses.

"Students can receive their lectures in their own communities," said Denise Merkel, public information officer for Cochise College.

"It will reduce their commute, but it won't eliminate it entirely because students still have to travel to the hospital," she said.

The school does not have a timeline for when it might go into effect because of pending intergovernmental agreements with Santa Cruz County.

Mary Rhona Francoeur, director of nursing and allied health at Arizona Western College, said the school is using the funding to create an interactive computer center with 16 new computers and interactive software.

"We will have virtual clinical labs and case studies," she said. "We will use the interactive software for nursing knowledge."

They will also set up an interactive TV network to offer distance learning and faculty sharing with faculty across the state, Francoeur said.

Most graduates entering the nursing field from university nursing programs are much younger and are not prepared to go straight into practice, so they tend to take administrative positions, Terry said.

"This demographic is the least prepared for academic study," Terry said. "But the community colleges offer the remedial courses that universities don't."

The older students with more experience are the targeted demographic, but these students also need the most support, she said.

"Older students already have family ties and a history with the neighborhood, so they tend to stay in the community," Terry said. "Community colleges try to supply the workforce in a short-term, immediate way" Terry said.

In the future, the grant will be open to other medical programs.