Palm Health Foundation Donors Take Aim on Building Local Health Care Workforce

November 1, 2023

Groundswell of donor support enables foundation to provide nearly $687,000 in scholarships 
to 73 healthcare professions scholars dedicated to serving Palm Beach County’s diverse communities. 

Palm Health Foundation and its donors are taking aim at the health professions shortage by awarding nearly $687,000 in scholarships to 73 nursing and behavioral health students at South Florida universities. With an unprecedented number of donors contributing to scholarships this past year, the foundation also received a pivotal $400,000 contribution from the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network (SEFBHN).

“We extend our heartfelt thanks to our legacy donors and new contributors who have established scholarship funds and joined our matching donation programs,” said Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of Palm Health Foundation. “Their generosity has enabled us to provide scholarships and foster meaningful connections between donors and scholars, amplifying the impact on our community's health.”


The SEFBHN funding enabled Palm Health Foundation to increase scholarship awards for all behavioral health scholars to $10,000, two to eight times the original amount awarded, and increase the number of scholars. Funding will also be allocated for future support of scholars with advanced degrees, including psychiatric nursing and psychiatry, unpaid internships, and emergency assistance for students.


"SEFBHN’s commitment to workforce development is helping to address the behavioral health needs of Palm Beach County,” McNamara said. “Together we are answering the call for help—especially from youth—so that everyone seeking support has access to care."


Life experiences led many Palm Health Foundation scholars to seek careers in health professions. Living in Palm Beach County’s diverse communities, they see how they can help overcome language and cultural barriers to health, provide bedside care to comfort both patients and their families and serve low-income areas that are experiencing especially high shortages—in fact, more than one in three Floridians live in a Health Professional Shortage Area.


“These are students who have been primary caregivers to family members during their youth or saw firsthand how conditions in their communities contributed to poor health outcomes,” said McNamara. “They have lived through the challenges and are determined to be the solution. Our donors play a significant role in developing culturally competent health professionals to deliver community-based care.”


Studies show that developing culturally responsive environments where the delivery of health services responds to the social, cultural, and linguistic background of their patients has proven effective. The effort to provide care with a greater awareness and sensitivity to a patient’s unique and inherent characteristics has been shown to improve health outcomes, patient satisfaction, and the overall quality of care.


Palm Health Foundation scholarship recipient Dercas Caneus knows she will be effective because of her ability to build bridges in her Haitian community and beyond. “I have devoted much of my life to community involvement and breaking down cultural barriers within healthcare,” Caneus said. “As a child of immigrant parents, I saw the value of nursing and how it can impact the community. Becoming a professional nurse allows that once little girl who loves science to live out her dream of leaving a meaningful legacy that benefits the world.”


To make a gift or create a donor advised fund to support health professions scholars, please contact Carrie Browne, Director of Stewardship and Strategic Partnerships, (561) 837-2281, carrieb@phfpbc.org.


Palm Health Foundation has granted more than $3.5 million in nursing scholarships to over 1,000 nursing students for advanced education since its founding in 2001. The foundation partners with the George Snow Scholarship Fund to administer scholarships with funding provided through Pam Health Foundation’s Nursing Advancement Fund, a donation from Valley National Bank, and donor advised funds, including The Debra Coffman Howe Nursing Scholarship Fund for those seeking to work in bedside care, The Alonso Family Neighborhood Healthcare Fund, The Andrew P. Barowsky Scholarship Fund, The Charles Norton Adams Nursing Endowment Scholarship Fund, Diamond Hill Capital Management, The Helen K. Persson Nursing Education Fund, The Joseph Dolce Surgical Nursing Scholarship Fund, The Peter & Elinka Ordway Nursing Scholarship Fund, The Solomon Silber Children and Families Fund, and The Sutton Kailey Nursing Advancement Fund. The foundation’s behavioral health professions scholarship funding is provided by the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network, The Scholarship Fund for Mental Health Professions at Palm Health Foundation, and donor advised funds, including The Frances Fisher Scholarship Fund, The John T. Merrell Scholarship Fund, The Koehn Family Fund, and The Mike McNamara Scholarship Fund.


Palm Health Foundation is recognized by nursing leaders and educators for its dedication to growing and strengthening the nursing workforce in Palm Beach County since its inception in 2001. In addition to nursing scholarships, the foundation has invested more than $10 million in initiatives to build a highly skilled nursing workforce that provides care across all settings and supports optimal health in the community including care transitions and care coordination. In the area of behavioral health, the foundation’s Brain Health Innovation Fund is dedicated to strengthening the local bonds between scientific research, community supports, and quality care to transform brain health in Palm Beach County.


Scholarship Match Opportunity

From September 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023, Palm Health Foundation is offering a dollar-for-dollar contribution match for all gifts to mental and behavioral health professions scholarship funds. Additionally, the foundation will match contributions to its nursing scholarship funds from November 28, 2023 (Giving Tuesday), to January 31, 2024. The donation match program is another way the foundation is encouraging community investment in South Florida’s local health care workforce. Learn more about the match at PalmHealthFoundation.org/scholarship-match





About Palm Health Foundation 
Palm Health Foundation is Palm Beach County’s community foundation for health. With the support of donors and a focus on results, the foundation builds strong community partnerships, respects diverse opinions, advocates for its most vulnerable neighbors, and inspires innovative solutions to lead change for better health now and for generations to come. The foundation supports health equity for Palm Beach County residents of all backgrounds, heritage, education, incomes, and states of well-being. Palm Health Foundation has invested more than $91 million in Palm Beach County health since 2001. For more information about Palm Health Foundation, visit palmhealthfoundation.org or call (561) 833-6333.

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