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Nursing program gets booster shot

JANESVILLE — Usually, it's the nurses giving the shot in the arm.

In this case, future nurses are getting the shot. And it shouldn't hurt a bit.

This shot is a pledge of $90,000 for a Janesville-based, bachelor's degree nursing program.

The program could provide people with good-paying jobs at a time when those jobs are desperately needed locally, said Diane Pillard, dean of UW-Rock County.

Pillard has been guiding the development of a partnership between UW-Rock, Blackhawk Technical College, UW-Oshkosh and the local health care community to provide the program.

The first pledge in the effort comes from Dean Health System and the promised but not-yet-built St. Mary's Janesville Hospital.

"We are going to need many skilled nurses to provide exceptional care to the community when we open the doors of St. Mary's Janesville Hospital and Dean Clinic Janesville," hospital President Kerry Swanson wrote in a news release. "There is no better way to fill those positions than with people who understand the local needs. Kudos to everyone involved for collaborating and investing in the city's future."

The donation will be $60,000 over three years plus $30,000 in in-kind contributions.

"This is very encouraging news," UW-Rock Dean Diane Pillard said. "Given the state of the economy, we were very worried about our ability to raise the necessary funds to start this program because we knew the state budget was not going to be conducive to an increase in budgets, either at Oshkosh or here."

The money would be donated over three years. A minimum of $200,000 more still is needed, Pillard said

Pillard said she has reason to hope that more donations will be forthcoming.

The donations would pay for instructors for three years. After that, the hope is that a successful program will persuade legislators to fund the program in the state budget.

Students already can start taking pre-nursing courses at UW-Rock. If all goes as planned, 16 students will move from UW-Rock to Blackhawk Tech next January to get their associate degrees in nursing.

Students would return to UW-Rock to complete their bachelor's degrees through a UW-Oshkosh outreach program.

In addition, nurses who already hold associate degrees could get their bachelor of science degrees, mostly through online courses, Pillard said.

Nurses with bachelor's degrees typically have increased responsibilities, increased career opportunities and earn more than associate-degree nurses.