HOSPITAL GETS OK FOR NURSING SCHOOL

CAPE GIRARDEAU - The State Board of Nursing Wednesday approved plans to proceed with the opening of a School of Nursing at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

The school will open in June and offer a one-year program for licensed practical nurses wanting to become registered nurses.

Support for the new school will come from the Southeast Missouri Hospital Auxiliary. The auxiliary presented the school with $25,000 of a $50,000 pledge at the auxiliary's annual luncheon meeting Thursday.

Southeast will use the funds to help secure school equipment and furnishings.

Auxiliary President Pat Seabaugh said, "The School of Nursing will offer licensed practical nurses an opportunity to advance professionally and just as importantly will help address this region's growing need for registered nurses. It's a privilege for the auxiliary to be a part of this unique project."

Approval of the LPN-to-RN diploma program was unanimous, said Sandy Buchheit, the school's director. The approval came at a meeting of the State Board of Nursing in Jefferson City.

Said Buchheit: "Our intent is to offer a scholastically and clinically sound nursing education program that will provide licensed practical nurses with an opportunity for career mobility. We're gratified the State Board of Nursing has shown such confidence in our program and recognized that a quality program of nursing education can be provided at a regional level."

Buchheit attended the meeting in Jefferson City, along with the hospital's administrator, James W. Wente; Karen Hendrickson, assistant administrator for patient care; former Southeast administrator O.D. Niswonger; and J. Ronald Fischer, president of the hospital's board of trustees.

Also attending were Gloria Green, a member of the nursing faculty at Southeast Missouri State University and a professional consultant for the development of the nursing school; and a number of nurse managers and licensed practical nurses at Southeast.

The philosophy of the program, Buchheit said, "is that nursing is a caring profession dedicated to helping individuals, families and the community. The School of Nursing will operate as an integral part of the Southeast Missouri Hospital health care team."

The diploma program is the only one of its kind in Missouri, hospital officials said.

Classes in the School of Nursing are scheduled to begin June 17. Enrollment will be limited to 30 students.

Wente said the hospital is currently looking for an appropriate facility to house the school. Classroom work will be done at the facility and most clinical experience will take place at the hospital.

According to the American Nursing Association, the need for registered nurses in this country may exceed the supply by 200,000 this year and by 500,000 in the year 2000.

Applications for the diploma program are available by contacting Southeast Hospital at 334-6825 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.