Press Releases 2006

CONTACT: Andre Neu, Director, Marketing & Communications
(831) 479-6158
marketing [at] cabrillo.edu

March 21, 2006

Cabrillo Nursing Receives $250,000 Gift

Neva Isabel Bournier was so proud of her nursing career that at age 90 when she was introduced at a social function as an “ex-nurse,” she bristled and declared, “Once a nurse, always a nurse.”

She so believed in the importance of nursing that she took continuing education classes to keep her RN license current until her eighties.

And when she wrote her will, she wanted to pass on to others the opportunity to become nurses as well.

Last week, the results of Neva Bournier’s wishes were delivered to the Cabrillo College Foundation in the form of a check for $200,000 to be used for the school’s Nursing Program. The money will go into an endowed memorial fund, the interest from which will be given out in scholarships to low income re-entry students in the program.

Bournier, who was born in North Dakota, died in Santa Cruz last June at the age of 94. She had worked as a registered nurse in hospitals, and had married but had no children and had outlived all her other family members.

It isn’t exactly known when she moved to Santa Cruz County but Michael Luther, a former neighbor, said Neva and her husband, a retired engineer, were there when Luther moved in 35 years ago. Luther said Bournier was always interested in health matters and had once considered leaving money to the Linus Pauling Institute. But some of her friends suggested the nearby nursing program at Cabrillo and she liked that idea.

Bournier spent her last few years in assisted care facilities in Santa Cruz and appointed Lifespan elderly care services to officiate her trust. Lifespan’s Executive Director Becky Peters presented the initial $200,000 check to Melinda Silverstein, director of the Cabrillo College Foundation; Tom McKay, chair of the Allied Health and Nursing Program, and Kathie Welch, dean of the health services division at Cabrillo, on March 14. Another check for about $50,000 will be added to the total endowment once the full affairs of the estate are settled.

“The gift from Neva Bournier is very important, much appreciated and timely,” McKay said. “It arrives just as we are significantly increasing our enrollment in response to community needs.”

McKay explained that Cabrillo’s nursing program recently took steps to create more qualified nurses by enrolling a new batch of students each semester in the two-year program, instead of just once at the beginning of each school year. The size of the nursing class, therefore, has increased from 40 students in 2001 to 60 now, and is expected to reach 80 in 2007, with 10 of those in each semester being Licensed Vocational Nurses.

Welch, who was in Cabrillo’s first registered nursing program in 1969, echoed McKay’s gratitude for the gift from Bournier. She noted also the support the program has historically received from the college itself and the community.

"We have been able to expand (enrollment) because of our strong partnership with our local hospitals, Watsonville Community, Dominican and Sutter, the County of Santa Cruz and grant funds from the state chancellor’s office,” she said.

McKay pointed out that the hospitals, local health care employers, the county and Cabrillo had established a Health Careers Partnership a few years ago, and that organization came up with the concept of the twice-a-year enrollment. Funding from the hospitals and other grants made it a reality.

"Gifts from private donors paired with funding from health care employers helps create an environment where more students can be successful in nursing education,” McKay said. “It is a model of philanthropy that benefits the entire community.”

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