WCU celebrates first graduates of statewide program to expand nursing education

From press release

ASHEVILLE – A statewide initiative to increase the number of nurses with bachelor’s degrees, an effort launched six years ago at Western Carolina University, reached a major milestone Thursday, May 8, as leaders from three Western North Carolina community colleges and several mountain area hospitals celebrated the program’s first graduating class.

The six graduating students, all currently employed as nurses at hospitals in the region, are scheduled to officially receive degrees this spring and participate in WCU’s commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 10. Thursday’s event at WCU’s instructional site at Biltmore Park, where many of its nursing classes are taught, was designed to celebrate the culmination of an idea that began in 2008.

The Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses Program – or RIBN, as it is more commonly known – started as a partnership between WCU, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and the Foundation for Nursing Excellence. The program allows students to be dually accepted and enrolled in both the university and a community college. Since its inception, the program has expanded across the state, with seven universities and 30 community colleges currently involved, said Judy Neubrander, director of WCU’s School of Nursing

“This day is the culmination of the work and dedication of many individuals and organizations,” Neubrander said. “It represents a milestone that we hope will become a national model for baccalaureate nursing education. I want to congratulate our six pioneer students for their courage and tenacity to persist and complete the RIBN program.”

Brenda Cleary, formerly executive director of the North Carolina Center for Nursing and among the founders of the RIBN program, commended WCU and A-B Tech for taking the lead in helping North Carolina move toward meeting a national recommendation to increase the number of baccalaureate-trained nurses to 80 percent by the year 2020; currently about 50 percent of the state’s nurses have baccalaureate degrees.

“North Carolina has an incredible community college system and an incredible university system. This program has succeeded beyond all of our wildest dreams because of the leadership of our community colleges and universities,” Cleary said. “Western Carolina University is seen as a dynamic, growing member of the University of North Carolina system and A-B Tech is probably the most respected community college in the state.

In addition to a strong partnership between the community colleges and universities, another major factor in the success of the RIBN program is the support provided by “practice partners” at the region’s hospitals, said Polly Johnson, chief executive officer for the Foundation for Nursing Excellence. Three WNC partners – Park Ridge Health, Pardee Memorial Hospital and The Charles George Veterans Administration Medical Center – hired the program’s first six students.

“It takes a village to make this work. We’re all key partners in this effort, but the most important partners are you who are graduating,” Johnson told the students. “You are showing all of us in North Carolina and nationally how this can be done.”

Representatives from Park Ridge, Pardee and the VA Medical Center spoke about the impact that the RIBN program participants already are having on their respective hospitals.

“We are standing here at the confluence of history, the past and the future,” said Craig Lindsey of Park Ridge, who told the audience that materials developed by student nurses working at his facility were now being used by other facilities. “Clearly, the people who are coming out of this program are very well educated and very well prepared to enter the work force. We are delighted to have people working for us now who are graduating from the RIBN program, and we look forward to hiring many more.”

Denise Lucas of Pardee said the RIBN students at her hospital are already performing as leaders. “Some of our veteran nurses could learn a lot from these two in terms of energy level, commitment to patients and their families, empathy and compassion for what they are doing,” Lucas said.

Nurses produced by the RIBN program are emerging as “among the best that I’ve ever seen in the country,” said Dave Przestrzelski of the VA Medical Center. “This is history-making. This is the way we will be educating nurses in the future.”

Neubrander, the WCU School of Nursing director, agreed. “As we leave here today, I think it is important to reflect on the place in history this moment will take,” she said. “We have embarked on a journey that will change the demographics of nursing and improve the health and health care of our region and state.”

North Carolina’s first graduates of the RIBN program are:

–  Kayla Edwards, a graduate of Polk County High School. Currently employed at Pardee Hospital, Edwards previously attended Isothermal and A-B Tech community colleges.

– Jessica Freeman, a graduate of Erwin High School. Currently employed at Park Ridge Health, Freeman previously attended A-B Tech.

– Brett Gustafson, a graduate of Manual High School in Denver, Colorado. Currently employed at the VA Medical Center, Gustafson previously attended the University of Colorado and A-B Tech.

– Holly House, a graduate of West Henderson High School. Currently employed at Park Ridge Health, House previously attended A-B Tech.

– Amanda Hylemon, a graduate of Reynolds High School. Currently employed at Pardee Hospital, Hylemon previously attended A-B Tech.

– Ashley Sitton, a graduate of Erwin High School. Currently employed at the VA Medical Center, Sitton previously attended A-B Tech.

For more information about the RIBN program or other offerings of WCU’s School of Nursing, visit the website nursing.wcu.edu.