Upper Coastal Plain Learning Council
WilsonCommunity College
June 9, 2008
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Present: Wick Baker, Bill Carver, Samuel Dickens III, Lynne Goodspeed, Terry Grimes, Charlie Harrell, Deborah Lamm, Jim Leutze, Larry Nielsen, David Byerly (for Jim Pridgen), Grady Robbins, James Sadler, Rusty Stephens, Fred Turnage, Danny Tyson,
Guests: Helen Brinson (AHEC) David Webb (AHEC), Sylvia Brown (ECUCollege of Nursing), Van Holt (Nash Healthcare Systems), Fatou Traore (ECSU-Nursing),
Gail Ricks (NCCUSchool of Nursing)
Wilson Community College President, Dr. Rusty Stephens, welcomed the group to his campus and spoke of the value of the community colleges to the community. He gave an overview of the new sustainable “green” building on campus that is nearing completion and invited anyone interested to a tour following the meeting.
Dr. Jim Leutze briefly stated that today’s meeting will focus onissues regarding the health care system. Health care providers from the area about will tell us what they are doing, current problems they have identified, and what needs to be done. He added that we will from the business community at another meeting and once all groups have been heard, we will then consider the priorities, turn them over to the program committee, and try to determine what we can do.
He reported that the Upper Coastal Plain Learning Council will be under the umbrella of UNC Tomorrow. To better establish our identity, we will need a website and stationary, logo, and mission statement. We will try to make the website a one-stop shopping placeto make it easier for people to easily find where the programs and services are.
Dr. Leutze reported that he and Mr. Turnage visited with President Norval Kneten of BartonCollege andthey will soon request a meeting with the interim president at
N. C. Wesleyan.
The following presentations were given:
1.Dr. David Webb of AHEC began the program with the first presentationon health care opportunities and challenges. He introduced a colleague, Helen Brinson and described that the mission for AHEC is to meet the needs of the area’s work force by providing education services and partnerships to improve the health of the people of North Carolina. He gave a history of the organization and information about their website which includes a complete listing of services currently available. A full report of his remarks and all statistics are included in the file. An obstacle they are facing is that manufacturing jobs are declining, but demand for health care jobs is increasing. There were many priorities discussed, however, the three most immediate were:
1.Dental Care – Train more dental paraprofessionals to serve in health departments. Hire five dental assistance to serve in the five health departments in Area L AHEC, with supervision from practicing dentists. Cost would be approximately $750,000 per year (this would include personnel, equipment and other services.)
2.Health Care Provider Continuing Health Education. Ask existing organizations to provide more frequent continuing education in all professions and subsidize these programs. (Cost approximately $200,000 per year)
3.Allied Health Programs in Community Colleges. Provide financial assistance to the area’s four community colleges to expand their allied health training programs. (Cost not noted)
Following a question regarding scholarships/programs designed to attract people to the nursing/health field, we learned that:
1.There are nursing scholarship programs and they are good, but there are not enough.
2.Hospitals do give scholarships in return for service following graduation.
3.Nursing programs are expensive.
4.There is a huge nursing faculty shortage.
2.Rick Hudson, from the WilsonMedicalCenter reported next and stressed that the focus for this project should be on adding nurses and nursing educators. He stated that in 2002 salary and benefits were the issue, however,in 2006 they need faculty and staff to train. They have recently received a Golden Leaf grant of $500,000 to train nursing students and received over 400 applications for 30 positions. They have been working on this for two years andlooking to expand, but they still need faculty and resources to expand the program.
He stated that the average recruitment time for nurses is 70 days. WilsonMedicalCenter does provide scholarships, but they need help and support to attend to the uninsured. All the agencies partner with AHEC and the community colleges, but it takes funding to implement recommendations.
A discussion followed regarding the ongoing issue of keeping people in the area. Approximately 90% of the nurses are associate degree nurses. BartonCollege reported that their students are from the area and it is not their desire to leave.
3.Dr. Bill Carver, President of Nash Community college presented on behalf of the community colleges. He stated that we are confronted by a nursing shortage of approximately 100,000. He cited statistics that included:
1.Only 20% of 9th graders are graduating from college.
2.Only one high school graduate entering their nursing program.
3.There are over 400 on a waiting list.
4.Admission is based on passing a placement test and the school determines entry.
5.The Board of Nursing determines how many slots you are have.
6.An evening program takes three years and they have just started an LPN program.
He added that we need to challenge the current enrollment of 20 to make it larger. He stated that the nursing slots each school are permitted are based on population and also retention. Many community college students have a variety of reasons for taking more time to finish programs, but the Board of Nursing doesn’t take into consideration how or why you drop out of the cohort – and,it doesn’t matter if you re-enter. The number of slots needs to be challenged.
The average salary at NashCommunityHospital is $58,000. Health programs are most expensive to provide in the community college, but these careers provide good wages and immediate jobs.
4.Dr. Sylvia Brown of ECU reported that ECU is thelargest preparers of nursing students with 1,000 students. Following her presentation, four priority areas that she would like to see addressed included:
1.Nursing faculty shortage – in order to meet the demands to prepare more nurses for the workforce, it is essential to have well-qualified faculty to teach students. The support of full and part-time faculty to enroll in the ECUCollege of Nursing online NEED (Nursing Education Educator Development) program to meet the NC Board of Nursing education requirements by the 2010 is one strategy that could help address this problem. Refer to website for further details. The program cost is $749 per faculty member. Money budgeted to provide scholarships to assist faculty with the cost of the program, would be beneficial. Additionally, scholarships for individuals who desire to obtain the MSN degree with a commitment to teach in the area for number of years they receive the scholarship would also be helpful and encourage faculty to stay in nursing education.
2.Nursing student enrollment – fund additional faculty lines to increase and enhance nursing student enrollment. Funding to support fauculty shared/collaborative Human Patient Simulator case scenario development to enhance student clinical experiences, especially in hard to find clinical placement areas such as pediatric, obstetrics, mental health, and specialty populations.
3.Nursing student retention – support high risk nursing student programs to retain qualified students through the use of tutors, mentors, support groups, counselors and other support.
4.Fund health careers development programs for middle school and high school counselors/teachers so that they can correctly advise and direct students who are interested in nursing and health-related fields – especially in science and math courses. Provide information to the Department of Public instruction so that studen6ts interested in nursing are removed from tech/prep model to a more professional health careers track.
A question was asked: If we double retention, can we double the output? The response from Sylvia Brown was thatsometimes pre-nursing students change majors – ECU retains 90%; Debbie Lamm, responding from the community college consortium stated their retention is approximately 57%. Retention is not necessarily academics, but as much to do with life.
An important comment was made with regard to expanding community college programs -- community colleges are supported by the local communities, unlike the university system and thebiggest issue in moving ahead is that poorer counties find it very difficult to raise funds for new facilities. The major issue citedwas funding as extra facilities need property, buildings and money.
Dr. Leutze wrapped up the meeting by asking the group to encourage legislators to support funding for approximately $500,000 and $14 million for a building.
Please mark your calendars to attend the next meeting where we will discuss economic development. This meeting is scheduled to be held on:
July 22, 4:00 – 7:00
GatewayTechnologyCenter
3400 N Wesleyan Blvd., Rocky Mount.
Phone: 252-977-6226
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