ALFRED — Alfred State College hosted a forum that focused on enhancing the healthcare workforce in the region with administrators from St. James, Noyes and Jones Memorial hospitals learning more about the educational opportunities available at the college.
Department chairs from nursing, physical and life sciences and allied health outlined the opportunities available at Alfred State. Details about the recently announced partnership between Alfred State and the University at Buffalo that allows students to stay in the Southern Tier while pursuing an Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP) Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree were outlined as well.
Hospital administrators took tours of the nursing educational labs, spoke with nursing faculty, learned more about the DNP degree from UB representatives and the day concluded with a discussion on next steps to encourage growth in the workforce.
Alfred State nursing department chair Jody Blankenship was pleased to have so many local healthcare administrators on campus.
“Any time we come together with people in the field and share the opportunities we have to strengthen the professional workforce is beneficial,” she said. “We were able to outline the educational programs we have to offer here and maybe more significant we were able to show them the simulation labs that we teach our students in.”
Blankenship said the labs are not only tools to educate the next wave of nurses but to build the skills of those already working in the field.
Kristopher Green, an Alfred State graduate and director of human resources at Jones Memorial, sees the importance of working closely with Alfred State and the other area hospitals.
“It is significant to have the three hospitals have a collaborative partnership with Alfred State,” he said. “We work together to provide health care services for our community. Any time we get to collaborate with Alfred State and with our affiliate partners is huge for our community.”
Alfred State offers associate and bachelor’s degrees in nursing along with numerous degree paths in health sciences and allied health. Students learn hands-on in simulation labs on campus and perform clinical hours in local hospitals.
