Photo by Susanna Tanner Nursing students Laura Smith (left) and Ginny Madden

Thanks to a unique partnership among Henry County Memorial Hospital, IU East, Ivy Tech and a host of New Castle officials, the day will come when a local resident can earn a nursing degree without leaving city limits. That same registered nurse could be ready for employment in the summer of 2006.

If all goes as planned, as many as 10 nursing students could be attending classes in New Castle this fall, utilizing not only classroom space at the Danielson Center, but also doing clinical study at a renovated office that formerly housed the Henry County Red Cross. 

And that means Henry County Memorial Hospital—which has hired, on average, 17 nurses during each of the past three years—won’t have to look farther than the city limits for qualified applicants.

“This is a model that doesn’t currently exist,” said Donald C. (Danny) Danielson, an IU trustee from 1959-1968, and a driving force behind the establishment of a New Castle center. “This could be the forerunner of a program for other communities just like us.”

Teamwork was just what the doctor ordered during a time when Henry County Memorial Hospital CEO Blake Dye reported that, according to the Indiana Health and Hospital Association, there are 1,500 nursing positions open statewide.

It is a highly competitive market. Dye reported that the starting salary for a graduate nurse (one not yet licensed) is $18.57 an hour. He added that the average hourly rate for a registered nurse at Henry County Memorial Hospital is $23.79.

“I need associate degree nurses,” Dye said. “I need board certified nurses. We got together with IU East and Ivy Tech and said, ‘Let’s see if we can train our own nurses. The Henry County population continues to age and we need to take care of our own.’ This project is a tremendous tribute to a community that knows how to pool resources to get things done.”

Plans call for Ivy Tech to begin offering classes in the IU East Danielson Center to complement student needs for a nursing degree. Meanwhile, Dr. Frank McDonald’s former office, across from the Danielson Center, will be renovated so that clinical practice classes can be offered there.

Additional classroom space for the project has been made available by New Castle Community School Corp., where both New Castle Chrysler High School and New Castle Area Vocational School will be involved. Another community partner in the endeavor is New Castle-Henry County Public Library, which will establish a computer lab for the nursing program students.

Chuck Sahlberg, program consultant for the Danielson Center, said the local teamwork displayed has been a thing of beauty. “There was no ‘I can’t do it,’” Sahlberg said. “In almost every case, it was ‘how can I get it done for you.’”

David Fulton, chancellor of IU East in Richmond, was on hand March 18 with Laurence Richards, vice chancellor for academic affairs, to officially introduce the program. Fulton praised all those involved and said the New Castle program could be a real shot in the arm for similar efforts across the state.

“The big institutions are heavily invested in the big cities,” Fulton said. “The question is, how do they serve smaller communities with the same needs? The only way we’re going to do it is by collaboration.”

For Rob Jeffs of Ivy Tech, the invitation to participate in an educational program like this was a no-brainer. “We never say no to a chance for reaching more people,” said Jeffs. “They came to us with a real need, and it was important for us to fill that need. Plus, the things we’re planning will benefit the whole community.”

The Henry County Memorial Foundation also has played a key role in making the nursing program a reality. It has donated $100,000 to the cause—$40,000 for new equipment needed and $60,000 to pay for additional full-time faculty positions.

Appropriately, the announcement comes just as the Danielson Center celebrates its fifth anniversary..

Editor’s note: Our thanks to Darrel Radford, managing editor of “The Courier-Times” in New Castle, for allowing “Home Pages” to excerpt major portions of this story from “The Courier-Times” March 22 publication.