By Jordan J. Phelan
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CLAREMONT, N.H. — River Valley Community College (RVCC) announced Thursday it has received approval from the New Hampshire Board of Nursing to offer a licensed practical nurse (LPN) program to students beginning in January.
The college began developing the new program in June and has been working to put the required pieces in place — including receiving approval from the New Hampshire Board of Nursing and the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) — to launch for the spring 2020 semester.
According to Dr. Eileen Glover, LPN program director and professor of nursing at RVCC, workforce development groups, partners and leaders from health care centers who are in desperate need of employees voiced their support of the proposed program to legislators and others in the community.
“The health care community was truly instrumental in the successful launch of our LPN program and eagerly stepped up to the plate to partner with us,” Glover noted in a press release on Thursday. “We are delighted to play our part in helping solve the shortage of health care workers in our state by offering comprehensive programs that train those who wish to pursue a career or advance themselves in health care.”
In its July announcement, RVCC cited the significant shortfall in the number of nurses in New Hampshire as one of several reasons that played a factor in the decision to ultimately start developing the LPN program. In addition to the New Futures 2019 report that identified 2,600 listed nursing positions on an online job site, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 12% increase in LPN jobs by 2026.
“There’s significant demand for LPNs in the state,” Glover stated. “We continually hear from our clinical partners and providers who are looking for a new stream of employees. Additionally, the demand from prospective and current students who want to continue their nursing education is high, especially from those who have received their license nursing assistant (LNA) and are looking to work towards their LPN. We are excited to offer a program that’s in such demand and look forward to accepting our first cohort of students.”
Hired in May to oversee the program’s development in addition to serving as an associate professor, Glover said Thursday in a phone interview with the Eagle Times that the idea has been in discussion for a number of years. But it wasn’t until 2019 that Denise Ruby, chair of the associate degree nursing department, reached out to Glover to gauge her interest in leading the charge.
“[Denise Ruby] advocated for me for this position and it was sort of fate,” Glover said. “I was looking to make a change. I had finished my doctorate and I was ready to move into academia. I applied for a faculty position and she called me right away and said ‘I will hire you to teach but we also have this other thing that I think you would be perfect for.’”
According to Alfred Williams IV, president at RVCC, the institution has received expressed interest in the program from more than 50 students.
The reason why the program will first rollout in Claremont is due to the fact that the equipment and materials pertinent to the students are located at the Twin Valley campus. In Lebanon, RVCC staff are in the process of converting a classroom into a lab that will be able to handle the LPN program. Once that conversion is complete, RVCC will be able to offer the program at the Upper Valley campus.
With startup costs covered for two years by a New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs grant — after which the program will become self-sustaining — the institution will work throughout 2020 to better identify the varying levels of interest across campuses and work with students to offer them the education they desire.
“The great thing about River Valley Community College is when students graduate, two-thirds go right to work in their field,” said Williams IV, who has been at the helm of the institution since 2018. “That is a real plus working at a place like River Valley, that you can see the direct impact when students pick up a degree happens almost immediately.”
Working under the supervision of physicians, mid-level practitioners and registered nurses, LPNs play a critical role in providing patients with quality care in a variety of settings that include long-term facilities, outpatient clinics, physician’s offices, acute care settings and others. They serve as a crucial component of multifaceted health care teams that work collaboratively to deliver the best care possible for patients.
“Building something from scratch and/or taking something broken and fixing it and getting it up and running is just the stuff that I love,” Glover said. “This sort of pulled from all of my past experiences.”
Spring courses at RVCC start January 21.
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