AdventHealth Sebring Unveils New Center for Nursing Excellence

AdventHealth Sebring and South Florida State College unveiled the new AdventHealth Sebring Center for Nursing Excellence at South Florida State College’s Highlands Campus in Avon Park recently. South Florida State College faculty will train students in the state-of-art facility to become future Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RN) through the two-year nursing program.

The nursing students will do their clinical studies at AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Lake Placid and AdventHealth Wauchula.

“In partnership with South Florida State College, this facility will allow us to educate and develop high caliber nurses to fill the nursing void many health care facilities are currently facing,’’ said AdventHealth Sebring Chief Nursing Officer Elsie Graves. “In addition to receiving the scholarship, these nurses will already have firsthand knowledge of AdventHealth’s whole-person care philosophy and be ready to provide the high-quality nursing care AdventHealth is known for on their very first day as a part of the team.’’

Those students who are enrolled in the AdventHealth Nursing Scholars Program at South Florida State College, will receive a $10,000 scholarship to be used for tuition, fees and books. Upon graduation, those students also will be offered a nursing position at one of the AdventHealth hospitals where they trained.

"South Florida State College and AdventHealth have entered into a formal academic-practice partnership, and we are extremely grateful for the support this innovative agreement provides for our students and our faculty," said Michele Heston, Ph.D., RN, CNE, dean of health sciences at South Florida State College.

AdventHealth Sebring and South Florida State College have a long history of partnering to educate future health care providers. AdventHealth Sebring previously funded nursing faculty positions at the school to ensure students continue to have the best leaders to help forge new paths to support the shortage of nurses.