The nationwide shortage of nurses is not going unnoticed by one local health care organization offering assistance to The University of Memphis.
Monday, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. (BMHCC) announced a $1 million gift to several health care related divisions at The U of M. The donation will establish three endowment funds to expand and support current health care programs.
The majority of the gift will go to the Loewenberg school of nursing through a $600,000 gift to build on the existing nursing simulation lab, a teaching tool that allows students to address real world situations. A fellowship in nursing administration and a nursing electronic library are other projects that will directly benefit from the donation.
With the electronic library, students and faculty will be able to access journals and reference materials online.
"This is going to be a wonderful resource for us," said Teresa Britt, associate clinical nursing professor. "We supply the most nursing graduates of any program in the area and, other than some private donations, we depend on funding from the state."
Beverly Jordan, vice president and chief nursing officer for BMHCC, said Dr. Bargagliotti, nursing school dean, and her entire faculty should be applauded for their work at the Loewenberg school.
"We appreciate everything the Loewenberg school has done for the community," Jordan said. "We're trying to support and build up the nursing workforce."
Britt said the donation shows that, as a business, BMHCC sees that the Loewenberg school supplies them with a lot of employees.
This donation comes at a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics February labor report predicts that more than 1 million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2012.
The U.S. Department of Labor has listed registered nurses as the number one occupation for job growth through 2012.
"The nursing shortage is real," said Cyril Chang, U of M professor of economics and director of the Methodist LeBonheur Center for Health Care Economics. "Most health care corporations are excellent community citizens and they are very consistent in their commitment to the educational structure."
This latest community donation from BMHCC addresses a nationwide shortage that is serious but only at moderate levels in the Mid-South, Chang said.
The potential effects of nurse shortages can seriously compromise patient care.
"There is a lot of empirical evidence showing that hospital patient care suffers when nursing departments are understaffed," Chang said. "The level and quality of patient care is real and measurable."Additional funds from Monday's gift will go to other health care programs.
The U of M school of audiology and speech-language pathology will receive a $300,000 donation to fund a Ph.D. research fellowship to a doctoral student in the program.
"This is a very important gift that will help us to fund future Ph.D. students," said Maurice Mendel, director of the school of audiology and speech-language pathology. "Our Ph.D. program has been in place for 30 years, but we've always struggled to fund students."
Mendel said that for many students who are accepted into The U of M program, their final decision on whether to attend rests on available funds.
"This endowment fund gives us the opportunity to attract well qualified students," Mendel said. "We're very excited about this gift and we look forward to working with Baptist Memorial Healthcare for a very long time."
The donation's remaining $100,000 will create the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. Community Health Forum endowment fund. This annual forum will address health issues of concern to the Memphis community.Baptist Memorial Health Care's most recent community report shows contributions of $300 million to charities and other community events in 2004.
