Fort Lewis College unveiled its new 5,000-square-foot nursing hall Sunday and welcomed its first cohort of nursing students.
In partnership with the University of Colorado Anshutz Medical Campus, FLC’s new nursing hall will allow students to receive in-depth hands-on instruction from world-class medical experts. The hall was paid for through a combination of state and federal funding and philanthropic donations from private sponsors.
According to CU Associate Dean of Students Amy Barton, who was instrumental in kick-starting the FLC nursing program, the new facility will equip students from rural backgrounds with the knowledge necessary to better serve their communities.
“What this allows us to do is really bring world class baccalaureate nursing education to a very rural community,” Barton said. “That doesn't happen everywhere.”
Barton said rural communities across the country are experiencing a nursing shortage. In Colorado, many of the state’s rural counties have health provider shortages, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Because of its proximity to rural and Indigenous communities, FLC is the perfect place for a nursing program, because it allows graduates from the program to return to their communities with high-quality knowledge, Barton said.
“What this program does is it really helps us create a pipeline for the rural nursing workforce,” Barton said. “What it does is it’s really a proven strategy for both recruitment and retention of health care providers in a more remote area. We want them to return to their communities, to do more of a community-based kind of practice and understand the important nuances of community-based care.”
Karen Zink, who has been registered as a nurse for 55 years, donated $1 million with her husband to the program. Zink earned her nursing diploma at Mercy Hospital’s School of Nursing, then went on to Lorretto Heights College and CU to receive a master’s and a women’s health practitioner certificate. Now, she said, she can give back to her community by empowering more future nurses.
“I want to have a love affair with Fort Lewis College, with the University of Colorado, with the faculty there, with students here,” Zink said. “It has been such joy to watch the students, and I’ve gotten a fair amount of time with them, and to see people that would not have had this opportunity unless they had Fort Lewis College to do those science classes.”
The nursing hall offers a plethora of high-tech facilities to provide students with an in-depth understanding of their field. The Bank of Colorado Home Suite is a model apartment that will be used for scenarios simulating when nurses must travel to a patient’s home to provide care.
The Animas Surgical Hospital Ambulatory Care will provide simulated telehealth, simulations. Finally, the Karen Zink Education Center simulates a hospital setting in which nursing students can interact with hyperrealistic mannequins that have a pulse, can make sound, blink, vomit, urinate, bleed and move.
“They will come out as leaders in their field,” Zink said. “Having these mannequins, they can practice before they’re with a real patient. And then they have more confidence when they’re in the patient care setting. It’s just so marvelous and so exciting.”
Ryan Jim, a third-year student, now a member of the school’s first nursing cohort, said he is excited about the new program and the new facility.
“I know the road ahead is going to be challenging, but it’ll be worth it,” Jim said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Jim said over the past three years, he and his fellow students had completed all of the anatomy, biology and chemistry prerequisite classes for the program, but not having a physical space to practice hands-on nursing skills was challenging. Now that they can study hands-on in the nursing hall, Jim expects he will be better equipped to head into the real world post-graduation.
“So far, it’s been good, but it’s kind of in the entry realm of that,” Jim said. “Being a servant to your community, to your people, providing them services that they expect to be good. They’re putting your lives in your hands. So yeah, it’s pretty important to give that good-quality service.”
Jim, who grew up in Fort Defiance on the Navajo Nation, said his grandparents and mother inspired him to go into nursing. He said he wants to take the skills he learns at school and bring them back to his community.
“First, probably going to the health care course working at my local hospital,” Jim said. “From there, I will pursue my master’s in nursing, become a nurse practitioner possibly at University of Colorado, and in the foreseeable future, maybe a physician as well a doctor.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
