WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
The American Nurses Association estimates that the United States will need one million new registered nurses by 2022! Yet, nursing schools have rejected approximately 50,000 applicants each year who met admission requirements, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A
NURSING SHORTAGE
One way to solve this problem is to close acute care hospital beds. That doesn’t service the community well. Individuals who need care are then shipped to higher levels of care in nearby urban sites. This requires families to drive further to see their loved ones. Follow-up care may also be arranged outside of the patient’s own town. Also, when patients are sitting in your Emergency Room awaiting acute care beds and there is a need in your community for additional acute care Hospital resources, one looks for other staffing solutions.
HOW WE HELP SOLVE THIS PROBLEM
Like many healthcare facilities, we are offering nursing scholarships to pay for school in exchange for a promise of employment. However, many of these employees stay a short time only to move on to other communities. This forces us to find added funds to hire contract travel nurses who have little commitment to our community.
We then formed a strategic partnership with Oklahoma City University (OKCU), Kramer School of Nursing. They created a satellite site for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in Duncan, OK three years ago. Because Duncan, OK is only approximately 30 miles from Comanche County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) nursing clinicals will occur at CCMH. Cameron University (CU) is a public university across the street from CCMH and a strategic relationship with CU’s Humanities Department allows students to start their Junior Year at Kramer School of Nursing in Duncan to ultimately earn a BSN through OKCU!
THE DIFFERENCE YOUR HELP MAKES
Partnering in innovative ways with local nursing schools allows approximately 50 more nursing students to go to school each year. When we are able to offer these scholarships locally, it keeps some of the brightest, most skilled nurses who are already part of our community here taking care of you and your family at your local hospital!