USF Nursing receives RESTORE LIVES donation

University of South Florida College of Nursing received a generous donation from American Legion Auxiliary Post #275 during a fundraiser event held on Nov. 9, 2013 in Dunedin, Fla. The money donated will go towards the college’s RESTORE LIVES: Research and Education to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families.

LaRon Nelson, PhD, RN, NP, assistant professor and assistant dean for Global & Community Affairs at USF College of Nursing, attended the event to accept the donation on behalf of the college.

“It is an honor to have the College’s RESTORE LIVES initiatives recognized by the American Legion Post 275 Family,” Dr. Nelson said. “The donation from the post will help provide support to veteran-students at USF College of Nursing programs so that they can continue to pursue their goals in our undergraduate and graduate level nursing programs.”

USF College of Nursing Restore Lives was created to develop evidence-based research and education programs to train a nursing workforce that can help veterans and service members overcome psychological stress and other combat-related health problems.

American Legion Auxiliary Post #275, which is one of the leading fundraising auxiliary posts in the country, is dedicated to helping veterans around the nation. The 50-year-old organization is one of the first donors to support all veterans’ initiatives at USF College of Nursing including the annual Joining Forces to Restore Lives conference.  The post also holds monthly fundraisers to benefit the college’s RESTORE LIVES. Pat Devine, former president of American Legion Auxiliary Post #275, is the one who first initiated the fundraisers.

“RESTORE LIVES is very special and also personal to me.” said Devine. “We have several veterans within our organization who are suffering from different strains of PTSD. Our goal is to continue to support RESTORE LIVES and other veteran initiatives at USF College of Nursing. Through these fundraisers, we have donated more than $5,000 to USF College of Nursing to date. The Post 275 Family now has their own foundation fund specific to nurses and veterans at USF Nursing called USF Foundation Fund 270035 American Legion Post 275 Family – Veterans Scholarship.”

-RESTORE LIVES at USF NURSING-
Through ‘RESTORE LIVES AT USF: Education and Research to Rehabilitate and Restore the Lives of Veterans, Service Members and their Families’, USF College of Nursing faculty develop life enhancing treatments through nursing research, and educate nurses with the knowledge and skills specific to the needs of the military, veterans and their families. The ART study is an example of type of innovative research that the USF College of Nursing is developing to improve the health of our honored service members and veterans.