HHC and Long Island University Offer Nursing Education at Kings County Hospital
New program is located at site of old nursing school dating back to 1897
Apr 10, 2010
Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus has partnered with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at Kings County Hospital Center, including a program to provide economically disadvantaged students with the opportunity to attend college and become nursing professionals.
A ribbon cutting ceremony held on Friday at Kings County Hospital Center, 451 Clarkson Ave. in Brooklyn, commemorated the new program that expands the capacity of local nursing education. Most seats will be offered to economically disadvantaged students supported by scholarships from the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), created to develop innovative ways to reduce poverty in New York City.
The event took place at the nursing school on the fifth floor of the “T” Building, the renovated space that was home to the old Kings County Hospital School of Nursing from 1897 to 1977.
“Helping people become nurses is a winning investment for New York City,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs. “Not only does this program provide a significant income boost to people in need, but it also helps the city address an ongoing need for nurses in its public hospitals.”
“Nurses are the backbone of any hospital or skilled nursing home,” said HHC President Alan D. Aviles. “The training, skills and commitment of the nursing staff make a big difference in the quality of care possible in a healthcare facility. Having nurses who reflect the diversity of the patients that we serve is especially valuable to a mission-driven system like HHC, a system that serves as the safety net for all New Yorkers.”
The country’s nursing shortage — the result of a large number of older nurses retiring and the overwhelming health care needs of an aging population — is expected to worsen over the coming years. The federal government says nursing is among the few recession-proof careers in the current economy, with more than one million new and replacement nurses needed in the United States by 2016.
“The Long Island University Brooklyn Campus/Kings County program provides an opportunity for more nurses from diverse populations to be educated. It benefits Brooklyn citizens and health care in general,” said Dawn Kilts, Dean of the Brooklyn Campus School of Nursing.
In addition to Gibbs, Aviles and Kilts, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Kings County Hospital Senior Vice President Antonio Martin, Long Island University President Dr. David J. Steinberg, and Brooklyn Campus Provost Gale Stevens Haynes also were expected to speak at the event.
Students in the RN program must complete two years of pre-clinical academic work and two years of clinical training in the LIU-Kings County program that includes hands-on practical experience inside brand new classrooms and laboratories at the Kings County site. There are currently 65 students in the clinical training program. Of those, 31 are sponsored by CEO. An additional 24 CEO students are completing their academic work and will enter LIU-Kings County next year. The first class graduates in spring 2011.
The program’s graduates earn a B.S. in Nursing from the Brooklyn Campus. In exchange for their scholarships, students recruited by CEO must work for four years at city hospitals with starting salaries of $65,000.
“I’m so appreciative of all that this program will do for me,” said Derrin Maxwell, a 35-year-old mother of four from Harlem.
Adero Gaudin, 23, of Queens, characterized the program as “the best opportunity of my life.”
Contact: Ian Michaels (HHC) (212) 788-3339
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system with its own 420,000 member health plan, MetroPlusHealth, and is the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission’s John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nychhc.org/hhc or find us on facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or twitter.com/NYCHealthSystem.
Long Island University/Brooklyn Campus School of Nursing
Since 1955, the Brooklyn Campus School of Nursing has been a leader in educating nurses across the New York metropolitan area. Located in downtown Brooklyn, the School operates the Harriet Rothkopf Heilbrunn B’32 Academic Nursing Center, which provides a broad variety of health care services to the uninsured and the underinsured residents of the surrounding communities. For more information about the nursing program, call the Brooklyn Campus Office of Admissions at (718) 488-1011.
Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO)
The Center for Economic Opportunity was established by Mayor Bloomberg in 2006 to implement innovative ways to reduce poverty in New York City. Led by Executive Director Veronica White and supported by a combination of public and private funds, CEO works with City agencies to design and implement evidence-based initiatives aimed at poverty reduction. The Center manages an Innovation Fund through which it provides City agencies annual funding to implement such initiatives and also oversees a rigorous evaluation of each to determine which are successful in demonstrating results towards reducing poverty and increasing self sufficiency among New Yorkers. For more information about all of CEO’s initiatives, go to www.nyc.gov/ceo.