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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| July 22, 2009 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
Nursing student Kim Surber (l) with Registered Nurse Joan LaPorte provided asthma information at a recent Asthma Fair at the Kings Mall.
West Hills working to develop partnerships for nursing degrees
The new nursing program at West Hills College Lemoore is partnering with Fresno City College and several four year colleges to develop models of how colleges can create a seamless transition between associate and bachelor’s degree nursing programs.
Charles Freeman, director of the RN program at WHCL, said the goal of the partnership, which is funded with a new $250,000 grant from the Kaiser Permanente Fund for Health Education, is to “reduce roadblocks to make it as user friendly as possible to complete the educational process of earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing.”
Freeman said that the nursing program at WHCL, the newest in the state for a publicly funded college, has 24 students in its first class, 12 students who started an LVN to RN transition program this summer and will have 24 new RN program students starting in the fall semester on Aug. 17th.
“California Community Colleges educate 70 percent of California’s registered nurses. By partnering with four-year universities, community colleges can create pathways for more nurses to continue their education and receive bachelor’s degrees,” said Paul Lanning, Ed.D., president and CEO of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which announced the grants.
Freeman said that California, especially the Central Valley, not only has a shortage of nurses but also has a shortage of nursing teachers. “We need to graduate more BSNs who become our instructors of the future.”
In addition to WHCL and Fresno City College, others in the partnership include California State Universities at Fresno, Stanislaus and Dominguez Hills; Fresno Pacific University; National University and the University of Phoenix.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 7,000 students on campus and online each semester.