(NORFOLK, Neb.) – What started as a vision by a young Nebraska state senator is now a multi-million dollar facility on the Northeast Community College campus and the new home to a unique educational partnership between Northeast and the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing.
The J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh College of Nursing is ready for students when fall semester classes start later this month. The 43,747-square-foot facility will house all Northeast basic nurse aide, medication aide, practical nursing (PN), and associate degree nursing (ADN) programs and the UNMC College of Nursing’s undergraduate and graduate-level programs.
The facility was built following a successful $11.9 million capital campaign, many believe to be one of the largest in northeast Nebraska history and chaired by Ron Stauffer of Norfolk. The campaign reached a successful conclusion in May 2009 following a capstone gift of well over $1 million by Norfolk philanthropists J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh.
Nebraska Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk was the first to see the need for a UNMC College of Nursing division in northeast Nebraska. After approaching University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken and Northeast President Dr. Bill R. Path, Sen. Flood helped turn the vision into a reality.
Before the capital campaign was launched, a feasibility study found that a nursing division in the area would help reduce the current and projected shortage of nurses, particularly those with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) and a Master of Science Degree in Nursing (MSN). As the only public-supported nursing college in northeast Nebraska, the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division will enable area students to attain degrees at an affordable cost.
The UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division will be led by Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, and Ruth Macnamara, Ph.D., assistant dean of the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division. Dr. Macnamara will lead eight faculty members and three support staff when classes start in August. Some 32 students are currently enrolled for BSN classes.
Chuck Pohlman is the dean of Northeast’s agriculture, health and science division. Karen Weidner, Northeast director of nursing programs, will lead a staff of nine faculty and one support staff person. Weidner expects some 60 Northeast practical nursing (full- and part-time) students, 60 associate degree nursing (full- and part-time), 250 basic nurse aide, and dozens of medication aide students will attend classes in the new facility.
Chuck Pohlman is the dean of Northeast’s agriculture, health and science division. Karen Weidner, Northeast director of nursing programs, will lead a staff of nine faculty and one support staff person. Weidner expects some 60 Northeast practical nursing (full- and part-time) students, 60 associate degree nursing (full- and part-time), 250 basic nurse aide, and dozens of medication aide students will attend classes in the new facility.
Faith Regional Health Services of Norfolk is also a partner in the project. Faith Regional, along with other area hospitals and nursing homes, will be clinical training sites for both Northeast and UNMC nursing students.
“This is a great day in higher education in Nebraska,” said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman. “This nursing education partnership between Northeast Community College and the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Northern Division is a masterful plan to bring two- and four-year nursing education to northeast Nebraska at considerable savings to students and the taxpayer. I congratulate everyone involved in this historic partnership effort,” Gov. Heineman said.
“The Norfolk area has recharted a new course, one that embraces our strengths and builds for the future,” said Sen. Flood. “The addition of UNMC’s Northern Nursing Division will pay dividends for generations to come by addressing critical health care needs and giving our best and brightest the educational opportunities they need to be of service to others.”
“The partnership between NECC and UNMC should serve as a national model for collaboration and partnership between institutions of higher learning,” he also said.
University of Nebraska President J. B. Milliken concurs. “The new UNMC College of Nursing division in Norfolk is a truly remarkable collaboration between the public and private sectors to meet the state’s most pressing need in nursing education,” he said. “We are grateful to our partners in this effort…generous private supporters, Speaker Mike Flood, Northeast Community College, Faith Regional Health Services, area hospitals, the city of Norfolk and others….for their support and hard work.”
Dr. Path said the opening of the J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh College of Nursing marks a dream come true for nursing education in northeast and north central Nebraska. “The list of those to thank for the successful completion of this project is long, but I would be remiss if I did not thank the Nebraska Legislature. I would also like to thank the city of Norfolk and the many county commissioners/supervisors who so enthusiastically wrapped their arms around this project and financially supported it.”
“I would also like to personally thank the McIntoshes for their extremely generous support of this project that will touch lives and improve health care throughout north central and northeast Nebraska. And a very special thanks to our General Campaign Chairperson, Ron Stauffer, for his diligence and hard work.”
Harold M. Maurer, M.D., chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said, “The collective spirit that made this college and facility possible is truly impressive. This is a story of success-a story about the length to which a community will go for its citizens-and a story about one solution to the nursing shortage in Nebraska.”
“The UNMC College of Nursing is honored to partner with Northeast Community College in occupying this beautiful new building,” Dr. Tilden said. “We are excited to begin the work of educating more nurses and future nurse faculty for the northeast region and all of Nebraska. We will bring a wealth of experience to northeast Nebraska so that the UNMC Northern Division is as successful as our other divisions across the state.”
Pohlman suggested that this partnership may be a model for others to follow. “Because of the generosity of countless donors, we are able to provide a nursing education partnership that just may well become an example for other institutions of higher education to follow. The multiple distance education classrooms, simulated medical office exam and hospital rooms, and realistic patient simulators will provide a learning environment that will challenge and test student’s clinical and decision-making skills.”
Riley J. Ohde of Atkinson is enrolled in the UNMC BSN program. “I am very excited to attend a great nursing school in a small town,” he said. “If the new UNMC division had not been built in Norfolk, I would have had to travel much farther away for my BSN or stop my education after my associate’s degree.”
“I chose to be a nurse because I want to help others,” he said. “I would really love to return to Atkinson after receiving my BSN and work there.”
Jennifer Lemmons of Randolph is also enrolled in the UNMC BSN program. She said the experience she and her husband had with nurses at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha gave her a true appreciation of what nurses do for their patients and families. “I want to be a part of that and help people,” she said. “I am beyond excited to attend a BSN program here in Norfolk. It is something I have wanted for years but the distance to travel made it an impossible dream.”
Chad Kinkennon, formerly of Papillion and now living in Norfolk, plans to finish his associate’s degree at Northeast and continue at UNMC for a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and eventually a MSN.
Chad Kinkennon, formerly of Papillion and now living in Norfolk, plans to finish his associate’s degree at Northeast and continue at UNMC for a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and eventually a MSN.
"I am excited to have the UNMC College of Nursing Northern division here in Norfolk, as it is not only an asset to the ADN program here at Northeast Community College but also to northeast Nebraska,” he said. “As a college and high school graduate from the Omaha metro area, I have always dreamed of becoming a part of UNMC’s highly-distinguished tradition by graduating from one of their professional programs.”
UNMC currently has nursing divisions in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, and Scottsbluff.
Northeast Community College classes start Monday, August 16, while UNMC classes start Monday, August 23. For more information about Northeast nursing programs, contact Weidner at (402)844-7330 or karenkw@northeast.edu. For more information about UNMC nursing classes in Norfolk, contact Jackie Smith at (402)844-7890 or jsmithk@unmc.edu.
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