NEWS

New Golden LEAF-funded nursing program to train nurses in tobacco-dependent N.C. counties

CHAPEL HILL -- A $200,000 grant from Golden LEAF (Long-term Economic Advancement Foundation) Inc. will enable the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and several community partners to offer a distance-education master of science in nursing degree in seven rural, tobacco-dependent N.C. counties.

The graduate program will prepare community college-educated registered nurses in Alamance, Edgecombe, Granville, Halifax, Nash, Vance and Wilson counties to become nurse practitioners while remaining in their home communities.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who are licensed to provide primary care to individuals and families. They collaborate with physicians in health-care clinics and make diagnoses and prescribe medications.

This is especially important for rural communities where health-care provider shortages often limit the access of patients to adequate services, School of Nursing officials said.

The N.C. Area Health Education Centers program, based at the UNC School of Medicine, and community colleges in each of these seven counties will partner with the university to develop and implement the program. They will recruit potential students and develop relationships with clinical practice sites and potential employers.

UNC’s School of Nursing will seek additional funding to help develop the information technology resources needed to offer distance-learning courses.

Classroom activities at the local community colleges, as well as clinical experiences with preceptors in students’ home communities, will round out the educational experience. Students are expected to remain employed as nurses in their home communities during their education.

The grant initially will provide support for 12 scholarships, which will cover the costs of tuition, books, clinical expenses, a laptop computer and access to an Internet service provider.

Upon graduation, the nurses are expected to assume leadership positions in local health-care centers.

Keeping highly skilled health-care workers in the area will contribute to improved health-care access and a healthier workforce and economy for each of the counties, said Dr. Jean Goeppinger, a program leader and professor who holds joint appointments at UNC’s schools of nursing and public health.

"We believe this program has the potential to help build a cadre of nurse practitioners who will earn higher salaries, remain in their communities to contribute to the workforce, stimulate the economic engine of the area and establish key role models for others to follow," said Goeppinger. "We see this as a unique opportunity to leverage change in the health-care infrastructure and in the workforce of these communities."

Katherine Williford, director of the Nash-Edgecombe-Wilson-Halifax Nursing Consortium in Rocky Mount, said students in the consortium area are eagerly looking forward to the program. The consortium is one of the community college partners.

"Many of our students desire to return to college to receive advanced nursing degrees, but they have limited access due to tuition cost, geography and other circumstances," said Williford. "This distance-learning program is ideal for them."

Other community college partners include Alamance Community College, Edgecombe County Community College, Wilson Technical Community College, Halifax Community College and Vance-Granville Community College.

Golden LEAF Inc., a nonprofit corporation based in Rocky Mount, was created in 1999 by the State of North Carolina to receive and distribute half of the funds from the settlement of litigation against tobacco product manufacturers.

Its mission is to improve the social and economic conditions of the people in North Carolina, particularly in economically affected or tobacco-dependent regions, by providing grants for economic impact assistance to nonprofit and government agencies.

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Note: Goeppinger may be reached at (919) 966-4338 or jgoeppin@email.unc.edu
School of Nursing contact: Sunny Smith Nelson, (919) 966-1412