Wheeling, W.Va. (WTRF) – West Virginia is investing another 20 million dollars to attract students to become nurses with the Nursing Workforce Expansion Initiative.

For years prior to COVID, there was already a shortage of nurses, which was then made worse during the pandemic. The initiative was launched in 2021 with a 48 million dollar investment.

Melanie Heuston, the Chief Nursing Executive with WVU Medicine tells us that this new surge of money shows how motivated the state is to remove as many barriers to entry into the profession as possible.

“Each nursing school across the state that got access to these funds had to increase the number of students. So the money was used for improving technology, increasing enrollments and recruitment to the profession. This additional 20 million dollars is to support the increased enrollment with faculty, recruitment tools and success tools to get them to pass state boards.”

MELANIE HEUSTON, Chief Nursing Executive at WVU Medicine

Heuston tells us that West Virginia is also offering help with tuition reimbursement. She says nursing is a great profession, and according to polling, is year after year the most trusted profession in the country.