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Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Sean C. Bonyun
July 24, 2009
(202) 225-3761

Upton Scores $100K to Create Jobs & Boost Health Care in SW MI
Distance learning scholarship program allows nurses to pursue specialized Wayne State degree for mental health & substance abuse locally in exchange for commitment to remain in southwest Michigan

Funding comes on the heels of $285,000 that Upton delivered for the program in March

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) has secured $100,000 in support of Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services’ nurse practitioner distance learning scholarship program.  Local nurses who sign up for the distance learning program will receive scholarships in exchange for a commitment to remain and serve their southwest Michigan communities.  Upton secured the funding in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill, H.R. 3293, which passed the House today by a vote of 264 to 153.  The funding comes on the heels of the $285,000 that Upton delivered for the program in the omnibus spending bill which was signed into law on March 11th.  Creating jobs and boosting health care in southwest Michigan are top priorities for Upton.  The measure is expected to be considered by the Senate in September. 

“This important program lays the foundation for good-paying health care jobs in southwest Michigan, helping boost the local economy, all the while improving the public health,” said Upton.  “We have a desperate need for additional nurse practitioners here in southwest Michigan, especially in the field of mental illness and substance abuse.  During these challenging economic times, many nurses who are interested in the program are unable to travel back and forth to Detroit to pursue a specialized, three-year degree due to costs or family obligations – this distance learning program provides quite an opportunity for folks to receive advanced training.  I applaud Jeff Patton and all his colleagues in Kalamazoo for their vision in creating this innovative program that directly addresses the pressing need for qualified nurse practitioners in the field of mental health and substance abuse, and our entire community will be better for it.”

 “As a public community mental health agency, the mental health and overall health care of our region will be very much enhanced with the addition of nurses with advanced practice skills in psychiatric-mental health and/or public health nursing,” said Jeff Patton, Executive Director of Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.  “We are grateful to have Congressman Upton’s support in these efforts to improve health care for the residents of the 6th Congressional District.”

Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (KCMHSAS) has partnered with Wayne State University’s School of Nursing, the only nursing school in Michigan offering an Advanced Psychiatric and Community Public Health Nurse Practitioner degree program.  The partnership between KCMHSAS and Wayne State brings the opportunity through the use of distance learning technology for nurses in Kalamazoo and surrounding communities to participate in this three-year program right in their local communities, rather than have to travel across the state to Detroit. Southwest Michigan is a medically underserved area with a shortage of nurses, but the region also has a critical need for nurse practitioners with training in mental health. 

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