Trinity Health Honored for Support of Nursing Education
Left to right: Larry Brooks DCB Dean for Academic and Student Services, Dawn Romfo DCB Director of Nursing, Dr. Jerry Migler DCB Campus Dean, Karen Zimmerman Trinity Chief Nursing Officer and Randy Schwan Trinity VP of Mission Integration
The North Dakota Association for Career and Technical Education (NDACTE) has recognized Trinity Health for its support of nursing education in the region. NDACTE presented Trinity Health with its Impact Award – an honor given annually to businesses and individuals that have had a positive impact on career and technical education programs in North Dakota.
Submitting the nomination was Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB), which praised Trinity Health’s leadership in providing classroom facilities and other support to DCB when the college assumed management of practical nursing and associate degree nursing programs in Minot in 2015. A year later, when the program needed to expand, Trinity Health came through with additional space.
“Not only did Trinity Health offer the college use of recently vacated space, its Facilities Management staff remodeled the space into mock surgery rooms, pediatric rooms, a trauma bay, an emergency room, an OB suite, and an interactive classroom,” said Jerry Migler, DCB Campus Dean. “In the process, they made it an exemplary facility for nursing education.” Assigning a dollar figure to its support from Trinity Health, college officials put it in the area of six figures. “When you factor in other types of in-kind assistance such as phone service, facilities support, basic IT support, and the use of other space on an as-needed basis – we believe that the contribution of Trinity Health’s facilities for the DCB nursing programs approaches $100,000 per year,” Migler said.
He also cited Trinity Health’s “Nursing for the Future” initiative – a partnership between Trinity Health, Minot State University, and Dakota College of Bottineau. As part of that collaboration DCB will receive $500,000 over a five-year period. In addition, Trinity Health Foundation has made its Nursing Scholarship Program available to DCB associate degree nursing students. “The bottom line is that about 30 new practical nursing and associate degree nurses are now graduating every year to help address the significant need for nurses in the Minot area,” Migler added.
Karen Zimmerman, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care, accepted the award for Trinity Health. “I am truly honored to accept this award in celebration of our partnership, which has been so successful in meeting the demand for nurses in our region,” Zimmerman said. “There is no better feeling than when a DCB graduate applies to Trinity Health for one of our nursing positions and becomes a part of our team. Your success is our success.” Trinity Health was one of two recipients selected to receive the Impact Award. The presentation was made at NDACTE’s Career and Technical Education Professional Development Conference August 6 in Bismarck.