New Creighton nursing scholarship will help meet mental healthcare needs in Nebraska

By Micah Mertes

Starting this fall, a new scholarship at Creighton University will support nursing students with a passion for providing mental healthcare to their community.

The Don C. Scott Family Foundation Accelerated Nursing Student Scholarship will provide full scholarship support for up to 11 students in the Creighton College of Nursing’s accelerated program. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the accelerated nursing program’s founding, when it became one of the first of its kind in the nation.

“Since these students will be able to earn their degree in one year, that means they will be trained, treating patients and addressing the growing shortage of mental health professionals as soon as possible,” said Jessica Clark, DNP, RN, College of Nursing Dean. “There is a vast gap between the mental health support that exists today and what is needed to truly care for our communities. This scholarship will go a long way in helping us close that gap.”

According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 150 million Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners/nurses, social workers and counselors.

Rural Nebraskans face additional hurdles to mental healthcare, such as a limited number of providers and long travel distances to access services. According to data from the University of Nebraska Medicine, 88 of Nebraska's 93 counties have a shortage of behavioral health professionals; 29 counties have no behavioral health professionals, and it is estimated that one in five Nebraskans has a mental health or substance use disorder.

Nebraska’s behavioral healthcare worker shortage is exacerbated by an aging workforce. Addiction counselors and psychiatrists are the largest groups of healthcare professionals nearing retirement age. A considerable number of Nebraska’s psychologists, advanced practice registered nurses and licensed mental health practitioners are approaching the end of their careers, as well.

“There is clearly a demand for more highly skilled and empathetic healthcare professionals serving the mental health needs of Nebraskans,” said the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, Creighton University president. “Creighton’s College of Nursing is not only ‘educating’ or ‘forming’ a greater number of nurses focused on mental and behavioral health for the state; it is immersing them in the foundational aspects of the Jesuit tradition, which calls on us to care for others from every conceivable angle — mind, body and spirit.

“I am deeply grateful to Don Scott and his family for the good this scholarship will do for our students and the patients they serve. The Scott family’s generosity has and continues to transform Creighton, Omaha and Nebraska.”

Don Scott has seen firsthand the pivotal role nurses play, amid both his own health struggles and those of his family.

“Good nurses are highly skilled in what they do,” said Scott, a retired optometry specialist. “But the best nurses give something more to patients and their families. They have kindness and compassion. They get a deep satisfaction from taking care of others. They have the dedication to work those long, intense shifts day after day.

“Not everyone can do that, and the challenges of the profession can make it hard to attract people. We hope this scholarship will provide an incentive for more great nurses to enter the field with a Creighton education.”

Scott attended Creighton for three years, but he has only more recently come to appreciate the University’s significance to his home city and state. Through his parents, longtime donors Ruth Scott and the late Bill Scott, he saw the larger impact he could make through Creighton. He wants to follow in their philanthropic footsteps.

 “When I give to Creighton, I know I’m giving to more than Creighton. I’m giving to the larger community and to everyone Creighton cares for.”