Mountain States Health Alliance, a 15-hospital health system in eastern Tennessee, is reaching across state lines to fund a nursing education program in Virginia, with the hope that local residents will ultimately fill nursing positions.
MSHA is providing $450,000 to the Virginia Appalachia Tricollege Nursing Program. The community college-based program is offered to students on a part-time basis, in the evenings and on weekends.
“The donation to the Virginia Appalachia Tricollege Nursing Program allows us to grow our own talent right here at home,” said Ann Fleming, Mountain States senior vice president for Virginia Operations.
While MSHA is based in Johnson City, Tenn., the health system operates five community hospitals in western Virginia, and would prefer to hire local people to staff its hospitals there and in eastern Tennessee.
“To recruit outside our region is much more costly, and the people many times do not stay as long as someone who has roots here, family here and appreciates the culture and the opportunity to work here,” Fleming said.
The VATNP community college program was created in 1975, and has graduated more than 3,000 nurses from three eastern Virginia colleges. The program allows students to gain an associate degree in nursing and work as registered nurses.
Fleming said MSHA has seen the benefits of growing local nursing programs through similar investments in Tennessee organizations. The health system would ultimately like to eliminate expensive contract nursing, and reduce turnover at local hospitals.
David Wilkin, president of Virginia Highlands Community College, said the Part-Time Evening/Weekend nursing program is a “flexible alternative” to traditional nursing programs.
“We are working hard to prepare enough local students to fill the regional need for nurses and maintain the quality of healthcare throughout our region,” Wilkin said. He expects the donation to increase program enrollment at all three community colleges.
Wilkin said the part-time program offers the same classroom and clinical training that the full time nursing program requires. However, the colleges adapted the curriculum to fit the needs of local residents with busy work schedules and family obligations.
“The part-time nursing program has been a Godsend for me and my family,” said Melissa Barker, a student currently enrolled in the program. “In addition to being a wife and mother, I provide care for my elderly mother-in-law and maintain a part-time job.”