Treasure Valley Community College expands nursing center to address Idaho shortage

Treasure Valley Community College near the Idaho-Oregon border is upgrading its nursing training center to help address the rural health care crisis.

The Evelyn S. Dame Nursing and Allied Health Professions Center on campus is a 30,000 square-foot building set for completion in late May.

Mara Poynter, executive director of Nursing and Allied Health at the college, said the new center fully launches in the fall and will be state-of-the-art.

“We’ve been teaching nursing in our current space since the 1960s,” said Poynter, “so everything is going to be a full upgrade, from a simulation center to Zoom-ready classrooms.”

Poynter said that new simulation center will give students a wide range of patient care experiences, preparing them for nursing jobs after graduation. She said she hopes the expanded facility will attract more students to help fill the demand for nurses in the state.

Idaho ranks 43rd in the nation for its number of nurses, at 7.3 nurses for every thousand residents.

Along with the nursing shortage, Poynter said it can be a challenge to recruit and retain health workers in rural areas. She said it’s helpful for new graduates to leave for bigger cities to get broader experience, and that rural communities need to find ways to bring them back.

“How do we transition, how do we encourage,” said Poynter, “and how do we incentivize students that have passion for rural care to not only stay, but then to potentially come back to provide what the community needs?”

Treasure Valley Community College will offer a Bachelor of Science in nursing starting this fall, adding to its 10-week certificate programs and associates degrees.

This story was provided by Rocky Mountain News Service, a bureau of the Public News Service. Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.