Published: May 16, 2008 04:31 am            

Tyler Junior College to house nursing program at ETMC-J’ville

By Raymond Billy

rbilly@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Aspiring nurses in the Jacksonville area will soon have the luxury of receiving career training closer to home.

The Tyler Junior College Board of Trustees on Thursday unanimously approved a partnership which will allow the school to create a nursing program in Jacksonville to be housed on the campus of East Texas Medical Center-Jacksonville.

The deal will be announced at a press conference this morning at the Norman Activity Center.

Under the agreement, ETMC will provide 4,500 square feet of space on one of its fourth floor wings to TJC, which will renovate the area to suit the needs of its program. Renovations will be paid for using funding from the Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation and ETMC’s crosstown rival — Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics. JEDCO will provide approximately $360,000 over three years with roughly $240,000 coming as an upfront payment for startup costs. Trinity Mother Frances will contribute $225,000 over three years in equal installments. The hospital will also donate furniture for the venture.

Darrell Prcin, JEDCO president, told the Daily Progress on Thursday his organization got involved to help facilitate the delivery one of Jacksonville’s most needed services.

“To us, it was obvious that Jacksonville really needs nurses and this program will help bring more of them here,” Prcin said. “There is obviously a nursing shortage nationwide and healthcare organizations are having to pay a lot of money for temporary solutions to the problem. So, it will be a major help to hospitals and nursing homes in the city if we can train a crop of qualified nurses right here.”

Fred Peters, director of marketing and public information for TJC, said the college has been looking for a way to provide nursing education to area residents since its previous Jacksonville partnership with First Baptist Church was discontinued several years ago. He said the school’s new president, L. Michael Metke made reinstating the program one of his top priorities.

“Ever since that program ended, we wanted to try to return to the city and doctor Metke became aware of that when he came on board here and began to talk to the economic development corporation and Mr. Prcin,” Peters said. “After talks with representatives from both of the hospitals in Jacksonville it seemed to be a mutual agreement that this would be a good idea to return a nursing program to the city in a collaborative way where we can all work to try to fill the need for nurses in the community.”

Peters said he didn’t anticipate the ease with which Mother Frances agreed to contribute to a program that would boost ETMC-Jacksonville’s prestige.

“We’ve been surprised by how willing all of the parties have been to work together to make this a reality,” Peters said. “All parties are aware that there’s a real need for trained nurses. This helps the economy and helps us all and we’ve been pleased with the desire from every party to work together and make this happen.”

Peters said a timeframe for completion of the ETMC-site renovation has not been established. He said TJC would begin its Jacksonville nursing program in August at an interim location to be named later.

TJC plans to begin this fall with a licensed vocational nursing associate degree program, which will allow graduates to test for LVN credentials. As the program develops, the school intends to offer a two-year nursing program to prepare students to apply to take the registered nurse exam. Also in the works is a certified nurse aid curriculum and possibly emergency medical technology instruction.

Eventually, the program will be able to sustain a yearly enrollment of 40 nurses.

Peters said tuition and fees for the Jacksonville program is likely to be similar to TJC’s nursing school in Tyler: $322 for three hours of instruction for students outside Tyler’s tax district.

        

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