Community college in the Treasure Valley expanding its footprint and educational offerings

The rewards are immeasurable, the challenges are steep, but the nationwide demand for qualified nurses remains high.

With the nursing profession considered one of the most challenging fields in which to fill gaps in the workforce, Treasure Valley Community College (TVCC) is expanding both its educational offerings and its facilities to help steer more young people into the profession.

Some big changes coming to the tiny campus will include a four-year nursing degree option, a future surgical tech program, and the soon-to-be addition of the Evelyn S. Dame Nursing and Allied Health Professions Center, a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot facility in which to house and educate future medical professionals.

For Mara Poynter, executive director of the TVCC Nursing and Allied Health department, the program represents more than just an educational curriculum designed to produce qualified health care professionals. She believes it must involve molding students through a “human-kind or holistic” perspective.

“You can be the smartest person around, but if you don’t know what it means to be human, to hold a hand, to acknowledge the fear, then we are not creating good health care workers,” Poynter said.

A former ICU nurse as well as a flight service nurse, Poynter considers the school’s nursing program as a place “where knowledge heals and compassion thrives.”

“We are building our students into professionals who have the science of nursing and the art of nursing behind them,” she said. “Our Treasure Valley needs good nurses that will care about our community. I feel we have that philosophy and are producing students who represent that commitment.”

Curriculum and facility changes within the TVCC nursing program, now in its sixth decade, aim to help combat a nationwide nursing shortage. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in the next five years, 84% of all states will need more nurses, with a current average of only nine RNs for every 1,000 people nationally. The data projects more than 190,000 nursing vacancies on average per year until 2032.

Following approval by the Oregon Legislature, and beginning in the fall of 2026, TVCC nursing students will have the opportunity to obtain a bachelor’s degree through their studies at the community college. Once nursing students finish their associate’s degree, they can then complete their BS online without having to transfer to a four-year university.

“This is a collaborative program of five community colleges in the state of Oregon,” said TVCC President Dana Young. “It is approved by the Oregon Higher Education Coordination Commission and Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. It has been sent to the U.S. Department of Education for program participation approval and to make students eligible for federal financial aid.”

Oregon’s need for nurses remains high, particularly in the rural areas on the eastern side of the state.

“It is a desperate situation, to the point that the state legislature has formed a committee to study this issue to determine how much money to invest moving forward,” Young said.

Having earned nursing degrees from both Emory College in Georgia and the University of Illinois, Poynter knows well the value of higher education and the need to provide students with what she describes as a “full nursing ladder,” particularly within rural areas.

“We’re trying to build in lots of different elements for what our community needs, and trying to formulate degrees and areas of interest to support the neighboring border of Oregon and Idaho which is so rural and frontier,” Poynter said.

In addition to the future four-year nursing degree program, a bridge program currently provides Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) students a pathway to transition to becoming a Registered Nurse (RN), while an LPN program is planned once the new building is further down the road.

For nearly four decades, Cathy Yasuda has experienced numerous academic and facility changes on the TVCC campus. As the chief development officer and executive director for the college’s foundation, she knows the vital role the nursing program plays for both students and the community.

“Our nursing program has for a long time been a flagship program for the college,” said Yasuda, now in her 37th year serving the school. “Historically we have had such a stellar reputation and we’re proud of the way the program has expanded and evolved over the years.”

She classifies the future allied health building as “transformational,” one that will allow the school to double enrollment in all health care programs.

Likewise, Yasuda believes the timing of the new building could not have been any better. “This new building comes at a critical time when we desperately need more health care workers across the country and definitely at a time when we need to expand the facilities and capacity of our program.”

Roughly four months into completion, and projected to cost in the ballpark of $13 million, the new building is slated to officially open in spring of 2026. It is named for local philanthropist and community volunteer Evelyn S. Dame.

“Evelyn is the most giving and caring person we have ever been associated with at the school over the years,” Young said. “It’s a continuous thing with Evelyn and her family. They always support all they can with the college and within the community. She’s so kind and humble, and she gives and gives to communities on both sides of the river.”

A breakdown of funding for the new building, according to Young, includes a $4.95 million contribution from the state of Oregon, $3 million from the federal government and another $1 million from the Eastern Oregon Border Board.

“We started this project almost four years ago, so you can imagine the value of all of the costs we estimated,” Yasuda said. “This is a huge endeavor for the growth of our health care programs and the college and working to meet the urgent needs in health care for today and tomorrow.”

Poynter estimates the new building will help increase cohort or class sizes from 28 to as many as 40 depending on interest from prospective students and the ability to fill critical teaching positions.

“With the new building, it is so attractive for us to start new programs and have the state-of-the-art equipment and technology and the capacity to hire additional staff as we continue to grow,” Yasuda said.

But Poynter knows the difficulties in securing qualified instructors to serve those students.

“We struggle with recruiting clinical adjunct faculty members to help support our students within the clinical environment,” Poynter said. “We’re not just putting our students out into the community and hoping for the best. We want people who can guide, instruct and hold our students accountable just as much as we want students who want to obtain a great education to work in an amazing profession.”

Plus, the ability of TVCC to work closely with providers such as St. Alphonsus in Ontario and St. Luke’s across the border in Fruitland provides incentive for future nursing students.

“In our program, I can definitely say our students are valued and appreciated for who they are,” Poynter said. “Our preceptors enjoy having TVCC students because they go above and beyond. They come out ready to serve and that sets our nursing and allied health programs apart because we instill in our students a level of respect and community service.”

“Historically we boast a 100% pass rate, and we also have a 100% placement rate,” Yasuda said. “Many students choose to come to TVCC because of our reputation.”

About four years ago, TVCC, considered one of the region’s smaller campuses, pulled out of the Oregon Consortium of Nursing Education (OCNE), allowing its nursing staff to rewrite the program’s entire nursing curriculum.

A decision Poynter believes helps separate TVCC from other area nursing programs.

“One thing that sets us apart is that our faculty built this curriculum,” she said. “Not only are we vested in what the nursing knowledge is, but how much we are also invested in our students as humans. That is what helps our program stand out within the Treasure Valley.”

“We believe the education our nursing students receive here will trump any for-profit colleges in the valley. Our faculty is invested, and our curriculum is sound and amazing because we wrote it.”

With a wealth of experience across the nursing profession, Poynter feels that the “human element” of nursing must remain a vital component for both providers and patients.

“It’s the philosophy of how we take care of people and how we treat nurses and others in the health care industry,” she said. “That is the premise from which we must operate. We need to go back to the human nature, the kindness.”

Because nursing, as she knows, is not just a job, but rather a calling.

“What we are doing is far more than just creating a paycheck,” Poynter said. “It’s so much bigger than that. I feel like those are the perspectives we need to get back into society. We need people to influence the desire to serve. Otherwise we are going to be on a shortage forever.”