For Brittany Thomas, APRN, NNP-C, FNP, Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) Grow and Stay grant recipient, becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) means giving back to her community.

"I grew up in a small community, and I love the idea of providing care for patients in small communities," said Thomas.

"The facility where I completed a lot of my clinical hours delivers care to an underserved population. These patients often come to the clinic with multiple concerns and complex medical conditions. The FNP program at the KU School of Nursing provided me with excellent experience."

Thomas notes that the ANEW grant was also a large part of her successful experience.

"The ANEW grant helped me feel prepared," Thomas continued. "Going back to graduate school with a family, bills and a busy schedule is very hard. The ANEW grant took away the stress of wondering how I was going to pay for the nursing program on top of an already busy and chaotic life."

"As a mother of four young kids, it was hard to find the extra time outside of studying and completing clinical time. The ANEW grant took away that pressure because I knew I wasn’t going to have a huge bill after the completion of the program," she said.

This ANEW: Grow and Stay project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2.58 million with 0 percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The ANEW: Grow and Stay project period runs from 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2027. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information visit HRSA.gov.