GUNNISON, Colo. — For years, healthcare systems across the country struggled to hire and retain enough nurses. Often described as a crisis, the nursing shortage only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now a university on the Western Slope is trying to build a new nursing degree program they hope will help ease the pressures on rural hospitals in that part of the state.
Western Colorado University, located in Gunnison, announced plans to develop a nursing program focused especially on the needs of rural communities. The university is using state grant money to fund planning for the new program, and has applied for more than $1 million in additional funding to implement it.
“We know it’s a huge demand. We know it's something we can address,” said Emily McMahill, who is an advisor for health professions at Western, as well as a senior lecturer of biology and part of the team that helped secure the grant funding.
“We also think there’s an exciting opportunity from the perspective of rural setting, that we can help train in a rural setting that’s unique and helps prepare them for rurally based jobs.”
In October, Western Colorado University won an Opportunity Now grant, worth $50,000, from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The university has applied for an additional $1.5 million grant from the same fund to help implement the program over the next two years, or longer.
The university already has a pre-nursing program. If expanded, the new program would offer three options:
- A traditional 4-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)
- An accelerated BSN program
- A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program
McMahill said if the funding comes through, the university hopes to enroll the first students in the fall of 2025.
“We have prospective students asking about nursing program all the time. I’ve always had to say, ‘We can do a great job of preparing you to move on,’” she said. “We’re hoping now to say, ‘We can do a good job of preparing you as a nurse.’”
In the latest healthcare labor report from Mercer, Colorado had one of the biggest gaps in nursing talent, with a projected shortage of 10,000 registered nurses by 2026.
It's an especially tough burden for rural hospitals, like Gunnison Valley Health.
“I think the challenge is recruiting and retaining and keeping those who want to advance their careers from leaving the valley,” said Nicole Huff, Chief Nursing Officer at the hospital.
Hospital leadership is eager for a nursing program nearby to help build a pipeline of future employees locally.
“It’s helping them stay here in the valley. It's opening up doors where some people want to do nursing but can't leave the valley and go pursue that. It also helps us keep those that live in our community and know each other, keep those ties to the community.”
Like many other hospitals, GVH manages its staffing issues with contracted employees, like travel nurses.
“They are significantly, several ‘X’ over what we’d normally pay for a nurse or CNA,” said Jason Amrich, CEO of Gunnison Valley Health. “To have this program, where we’re looking at local people that know rural, that have that emotional connection with our community, to be able to provide them access to a nursing education, it really will allow us to have a whole new pool of folks to try to recruit and choose from with that rural mission in their mind.”
GVH is getting creative like other employers looking to draw and keep talent, offering scholarship money and even housing options to try and recruit more nurses.
The state’s 2023 Talent Pipeline Report shows registered nurses have one of the largest talent gaps -- a deficit of 14,175 available-jobs-to-certified-candidates.
The Colorado Department of Human Services now offers $14,000 bonuses to incentivize nurses to work for the state’s mental health hospitals. That number reflects an increase from the original bonus offer of $2,000-$7,000, and the state said it keeps them more competitive with other nursing jobs. Other incentives include covering some education costs for nurses, and allowing out-of-state licensed nurses to transfer to Colorado without having to obtain additional licenses.
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