by Sarah Zeller and Lynn Vollbrecht
Staff Writers
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Registered Nurse Lynn Theis conducts a hearing test on a newborn Tuesday in the Mercy New Generations Birthing Center at Mercy Hospital Janesville. Theis, who earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Blackhawk Technical College, currently is pursuing a
bachelor’s degree at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Under a new program being developed, such students could earn bachelor’s degrees in nursing while remaining in Rock County. |
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JANESVILLE — Although local unemployment is skyrocketing, some Rock County employers are worried about a potential shortage of new workers.
University of Wisconsin-Rock County Dean Diane Pillard has heard such concerns first-hand.
“Mercy Health System and Beloit (Memorial) Hospital have done research within their own systems to determine how many nurses they will need in the next 10 years, and it’s hundreds,” Pillard said. “They have hundreds of nurses who will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. That’s pretty significant for a community of our size.”
The new St. Mary’s Janesville hospital, a 50-bed complex to be built on the city’s southeast side, also will require a large nursing staff, Pillard said.
To meet the predicted demand for nurses, UW-Rock County, Blackhawk Technical College and local health care providers are pooling resources to develop a local bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Eager nursing students in Rock County could enroll as early as this fall.
Recently, UW-Oshkosh’s College of Nursing received UW System approval to develop a collaborative nursing-degree program at UW-Rock County.
The program would give new nursing students, or those currently working as registered nurses with an associate’s degree, the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Classes would be held at UW-Rock County and Blackhawk Technical College.
Negotiations between the schools, including UW-Oshkosh, which will award the degrees, are ongoing. Pillard is optimistic that students will be able to enroll soon.
“Hopefully by fall, we’ll be accepting students,” she said.
Students likely would take their general-education courses, especially core science courses, at UW-Rock County, then move on to BTC for classes offered through the college’s associate’s-degree nursing program. Final courses would be taught by UW-Oshkosh online or at UW-Rock County.
Many involved in nursing are excited about the program, and say it’s long overdue.
Among them is Wisconsin state Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, who once taught in the BTC nursing program. Currently, Robson serves on a state nursing summit task force, which visited Washington, D.C., this fall to discuss issues facing the nursing field. Those issues include a shortage of nursing programs like the one being developed in Rock County.
“Nursing has become a very desirable occupation,” Robson said.
In the past five or six years, she added, constituents have asked increasingly why more isn’t being done to increase the capacity of nursing programs.
“This creative program … will really help relieve the bottleneck,” Robson said. “It really meets a great need. I hope other programs will look at UW-Rock County as a model.”
At Janesville-based Mercy Health System, 18 percent of workers are age 55 and older, and 30 percent are 50 and older.
“The needs are very great … we’re an aging work force,” Mercy’s Director of Nursing Catherine Luchsinger said.
Even with baby boomer employees staying on longer than in the past, and flexible work-to-retire programs offered by Mercy, Janesville’s largest employer still plans to hire numerous nurses in the future.
“Even with our unique retention strategies, we do anticipate hiring more than 50 nurses each year, and this new program will help us with that effort,” Human Resources Generalist Elizabeth Wurtz said.
Registered nurse Mary Marino, director of special care and the multicare center at Beloit Memorial Hospital, can’t wait for the program to start.
“I think it’s a great thing. I’m excited,” she said. Many of the nurses at Beloit Memorial have associate’s degrees, and 13 percent of nurses in a recent survey of the hospital’s nurses said they currently are working on a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
For nurses who are mothers, the program will be much-appreciated, Marino said.
“We do have quite a few (associate’s-degree) graduates, and most of them are single moms,” Marino said. “People just don’t have that kind of money to spend on gas (to get a four-year degree). By having it at UW-Rock, they’ll be able to go 10, 15 miles and be at class.”
Lynn Theis, a registered nurse at Mercy Hospital Janesville for 18 years, has been working slowly on a bachelor’s degree at UW-Madison, taking one class at a time.
She first earned her associate’s degree in nursing at Blackhawk Technical College.
“I wanted to become a nurse, and with my children being little, Blackhawk was a good fit as a two-year program,” she said.
But Theis always planned to continue her education.
“As (my children) got older, I had more time to devote,” she said.
She returned to college at UW-Madison, and plans to graduate in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree.
“I wanted that degree. It was really important to me,” she said.
Marino also earned a bachelor’s degree while working in the field, and found that her higher degree offered her a broader experience in the profession.
“You get more of what you can’t get in that first two years,” she said.
Having a higher level of education in the profession can pay off, Luchsinger said.
Opportunities include being an educator and taking nursing leadership roles, she said.
“Those positions want a more well-rounded individual, and that’s what a bachelor’s degree will give you,” she said.
Luchsinger, who also holds a master’s degree, knows that first-hand.
“It’s opened so many doors for me,” she said. “I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today if I hadn’t had great teachers and mentors.”
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