MADISON, Fla. (WTXL) — As the nursing shortage deepens across Florida, one North Florida college is turning students into frontline healthcare heroes right in their own backyard.
- North Florida College's nursing program addresses local healthcare shortages by training nurses for rural communities.
- Graduates like Caziah Cherry plan to work in their hometowns.
- Watch the video below to learn what Florida’s nurse shortage could look like in 10 years.
North Florida College's nursing program bridges healthcare gaps in rural communities
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In rural North Florida, neighborhood hospitals struggle to keep staff, and patients feel it first.
At North Florida College, they are training nurses who want to stay close to home.
“I always wanted to be a nurse. I would go to my doctor’s appointment, and I’d be like 'Yeah I wanna do that,'” NFC nursing student Caziah Cherry said.
Across the country, the demand for nurses is outpacing the supply. And here in Florida, the gap is even more pressing.
The Florida Hospital Association warns the state could be short more than 59,000 nurses by 2035.
And even with new training programs, many hospitals—especially in smaller and rural communities—are still struggling to keep vacancies filled and staff from turning over.
NFC’s BSN graduates play a big role in that solution, with earnings, job placement, and returning to work in local clinics, nursing homes and small hospitals.
“Right here in our community, we have multiple nursing homes and we have rural hospitals. In Live Oak there’s an ER, there are doctor's offices. We have a brand new huge doctor's office coming up right now because the community wants to expand, but we have to have people to expand. So we need people who can be dedicated to the rural community, to this area,” NFC nursing faculty member Rebekah Pitts said.
For students like Caziah Cherry, the support system from faculty and family matters almost as much as the diploma.
“They think that is good, and then they also feel like that I should further by education with nursing too. And they always knew that I went to be a nurse to cause that’s all I talked about,” Cherry said.
Cherry says after graduation she plans to start her career in Madison to help fill the gap in rural health care.
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