Hill Health Center News Release

 

For release      1 December 2005

 

Information:  Robert Kilpatrick               503-3276 (w)

245-4533 (h)

 

rkilpatrick@hillhealthcenter.com        www.hillhealthcenter.com

 

Gateway and Hill Health Form Nursing Alliance

 

Gateway Community College and Hill Health Center (HHC) announced today that they have formed a partnership to address the nursing shortage in the community health setting.

 

The collaboration is financially supported by a new federal program called "Grow Your Own Health Center Nurse."

 

The major purpose of the "Grow Your Own Health Center Nurse" program is to help address the nursing shortage and recruitment problems experienced by Federally Qualified Health Centers by training employees from the community as basic level registered nurses

 

A second purpose is to establish long term linkages between schools of nursing and health centers to provide clinical training sites at the health centers for the nursing school students.  An expected outcome of this program is to assist HHC in recruiting nurses by increasing the number of nursing students exposed to its programs and populations.

 

The grant award of $600,000 for four years will allow HHC and Gateway to support student recruitment, selection and retention activities, basic level registered nurse education, and the use of HHC clinical sites for nursing education.  Gateway will give preference in the selection of students to qualified staff currently employed at Hill Health Center

 

More than 20 HHC staff have expressed an interest in the Gateway Nursing Program and two are enrolled for the fall semester.  HHC staff are currently mentoring 29 Gateway nursing students in observational clinical rotations at six HHC sites, including three school-based health centers.

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