Hometown Jobs: Galen College of Nursing accepting students

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - There’s a new school dedicated to filling the need for nurses in our hometowns.

“We have a lot of good nurses, a lot of good doctors who put their hearts and lives on the line to make sure somebody leaves in a better way than they came in and I knew literally from day one, that I wanted to do it,” said Deonte Dance, a student at Galen College of Nursing.

You’ll find passionate students wanting to help people in our hometowns at Galen College of Nursing.

“It goes without saying the state of the workforce deficit that exists in nursing in this country and Galen College of Nursing has partnered with HCA to strategically put campuses where there are HCA facilities, so that we can collaborate and work together to not only create robust learning experiences for our nursing students, but to also then put caring and compassionate nurses at the bedside in these hospitals,” said Dr. Kimberly Brown, Associate Dean.

“We need more nurses, we need more people be willing to put their lives on the line, to go through the classes to do what needs to be done and there’s always going to be a need for them. There’s always been a need for them,” said Dance.

“Currently, we offer two programs; we offer an LPN-to-RN associate degree program that takes about 18 months to complete and then we offer a two-year associate degree in nursing. So it’s a combination of theoretical and practical skills that we’re teaching the students; they acquire the information, they learn how to assess for deviations and health, they learn how to intervene on the patient’s behalf in terms of the skills and the tasks that they’re taught and then they also add a layer of sort of critical thinking and clinical judgment, so that they can use all of their skills and abilities in a way that benefits the patient,” said Brown.

The program is flexible.

“Galen College of Nursing student demographic looks something like this: the average age is 32. 60% of them have dependents. 90% of them are women. They’re all in the workforce and so we create a curriculum and a learning experience that is supportive of the adult learner and the adult worker,” said Brown.

“Nursing is just, there’s no limit to it. You can continue your education on and you also have the ability to switch departments and just change it up as you get tired of something or you just want something new,” said Alexis Rhudy, a student at Galen College of Nursing.

“Nurses represent 60% of the workforce in health care today in any facility... Nurses play a critical role. There is not a substitute for the role that nursing plays in the day-to-day life of patients in the hospital or in the outpatient setting,” said Brown.

There’s currently no wait list to get into a program.

“The desire for individuals to become nurses is there, the avenue with which to get there can be challenging, but we have the support and the capacity in place to meet that need,” said Brown.

“I think anyone could be a nurse. It’s just, are you willing to put forth the effort and the empathy to be able to show the support and care a patient might need at their hardest times?” asked Rhudy.

New classes start in October.

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