DUBOIS — On Thursday Penn Highlands Healthcare announced it will help to expand BC3 at Brockway’s registered nursing program by sponsoring tuition for select students who sign an employment agreement, and by providing annual operating funds and additional clinical space for on-site instruction.
Penn Highlands Healthcare this fall will begin to fund tuition for up to 30 qualified students it refers each year to BC3 at Brockway’s career program in Nursing, R.N., through a partnership intended to address a regional shortage in nursing.
“This is a great opportunity for people in the region who wish to pursue careers in nursing,” said Heather Franci, chief nursing officer for Penn Highlands Healthcare. “We are excited to partner with BC3 @ Brockway to create this professional pathway that will provide financial assistance and high-quality educational opportunities to the students.”
In exchange, qualified students referred by Penn Highlands Healthcare to BC3 at Brockway’s four-year-old Nursing, R.N., program will sign an employment agreement with the health care provider that has hospitals and other facilities in 39 Pennsylvania counties.
Officials with Penn Highlands Healthcare and Butler County Community College signed an initial four-year agreement July 28 in which Penn Highlands will also provide annual operating funds to support increased enrollment, and expanded clinical space at Penn Highlands Healthcare, where qualified staff members will administer on-site instruction.
The partnership demonstrates Penn Highlands Healthcare’s belief in BC3, said Dr. Nick Neupauer, president of the college.
“And specifically, the Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health,” Neupauer continued. “You don’t make that type of investment in potential employees, as well as assisting the college in operating expenses that would lead to this expansion with BC3 @ Brockway, unless there was a great belief. And Penn Highlands clearly believes in BC3.”
The collaboration, said Dr. Patty Annear, dean of BC3’s Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health, is “a win-win situation for both. Penn Highlands knows the clinical end, and BC3, the academic end. This partnership is ideal in helping the community with the nursing shortage.”
Penn Highlands has nearly 6,700 employees in more than 150 locations that include hospitals, community medical buildings, outpatient facilities, surgery centers and physician practices. It will also sponsor tuition to students currently enrolled in BC3 at Brockway’s registered nursing program who sign an employment agreement.
BC3 at Brockway’s service area includes Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties.
“It helps in our service area to address the nursing shortage,” Neupauer said. “It is a way of demonstrating again that we can’t go at this alone. We need the appropriate partners with whom to collaborate. And Penn Highlands has really demonstrated that it will be very good partners moving forward.”
Registered nurse is a high-priority occupation in the North Central and Northwest Workforce Development Areas, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.
A 9 percent increase in jobs is expected through 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
BC3 at Brockway recognized its largest class of graduates in Nursing, R.N., in May. Fifteen of the 16 graduates had jobs prior to completing the 70-credit program, said Brittany Guadagno, a faculty member in BC3 at Brockway’s Shaffer School of Nursing and Allied Health. Many indicated they had accepted positions in Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties.
“I believe one of the reasons that Penn Highlands ultimately selected us is because our students tend to be a bit more local and tend to stay in the area,” Annear said. “Penn Highlands has a big draw in that area. Many of our graduates (of BC3 at Brockway’s Nursing, R.N., program) go there to work.”
Graduates in BC3 at Brockway’s Class of 2022 in Nursing, R.N., reported they will or intend to work in critical care, emergency rooms, medical-surgery floors, operating rooms and in post-anesthesia care units.
To attain licensure, graduates of BC3 at Brockway’s Nursing, R.N., program take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses. An average of 90 percent of BC3’s first-time NCLEX-RN test-takers in the past three years have been successful, Annear said.
Tuition and fees for BC3 at Brockway students pursuing 15 credits per semester for one year in 2022-2023 are $8,400.
The median salary for registered nurses in Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties in 2022 is $66,629, according to Emsi, an Idaho research company that conducts economic impact analyses for educational institutions.
Applications for fall 2023 consideration in BC3 at Brockway’s Nursing, R.N., program will be accepted beginning Aug. 1.
Students can also take pre-nursing courses at BC3 at Brockway, where they can finish the career program in Nursing, R.N.
Registered nurses can assess patients’ conditions, record medical histories, symptoms and observations; administer medicine and treatments, operate and monitor medical equipment, and help to perform diagnostic tests and analyze results, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
For additional information about Penn Highlands Healthcare’s tuition sponsorship and employment agreement, contact the Nurse Recruiters in the Penn Highlands Healthcare Human Resources Department at (814) 375-3355.
