Three area agencies have joined forces to address an anticipated shortfall of nurses in the region through a new training program for at-risk students.

The Believe to Achieve program, which started Jan. 5, is a joint effort by  Southeast Missouri Hospital, Cape Girardeau School District and MERS/Goodwill. The nine-week training program matches 11 at-risk high-school-age students with a nurse's aide to explore health-care careers.

Four participants are from MERS/Goodwill, two are from Cape Girardeau Central High School and six are from the Cape Girardeau Alternative Education Center. MERS/Goodwill and the Cape Girardeau School District screen the students before they can participate in the initiative.

Once the students complete the program, they will have most of the hours required for CNA certification and may be given an opportunity to interview for a nurse assistant position at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

The program was made possible through a $31,338 grant from the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development, or WIRED, Initiative. WIRED is a U.S. Department of Labor initiative designed to improve regional economic development by addressing workforce needs and issues. The hospital foundation wrote the grant.

"We're getting a lot of feedback from the students, and they keep telling me they're having a good time," said Easy Stilson, nurse residency program manager and nurse recruiter at Southeast Missouri Hospital. "We're building self-esteem and confidence in the students. Those qualities will help them no matter where they work and are employed."

"We're hoping to coach them to success not just in the work force but in life."

Darin Stageberg, transition coordinator for Cape Girardeau School District, has seen a difference in the program participants he interacts with at the Cape Girardeau Alternative Education Center.

"They take a lot of pride in the program and are enjoying learning about the profession," Stageberg said. "My hope is our students in the program enter the medical profession.

"The worst-case scenario is that they get meaningful work skills and will be more prepared for the work force," he said. "So it's a win-win situation."

Dr. Karen Hendrickson, Southeast Missouri Hospital vice president and chief nursing officer, hopes the program will inspire some students to consider nursing as a career choice.

"We are hoping they find a niche in health care and hopefully nursing," Hendrickson said. "By collaborating with the Cape Girardeau schools and MERS/Goodwill, we hope to generate more interest from individuals about the health-care industry. They'll learn the very basic patient care skills and the tools to succeed not only in the classroom but in the work setting."

She said the initiative is a larger effort on the part of the hospital to recruit young people to fill future health-care positions.

The hospital offers a camp for high school students interested in the nursing profession from June 7 to 11, a camp for male high-school students from July 26 to 29 and year-round residency program for graduates needing additional clinical experience or skills. For more information about the camps, call 331-6322.

Hendrickson said the profession is expected to have a shortfall of 250,000 nurses by 2010 and 800,000 by 2020. Southeast Missouri Hospital has 600 nurses on staff.

"Southeast Missouri Hospital is not suffering a nursing shortage," she said. "To not be concerned about that in the future would be short-sighted. We try to have initiatives like this to battle this.

"We have an aging work force, so the group of nurse educators is significantly aging," she said. "So when those nurses begin to retire and the demands by the baby boomers increase, this will converge into a significant problem if we don't stay out ahead of that."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

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