Nursing News
Master of Science in Nursing - online program begins fall 2009
Learn more about our RN to MSN program
Thomas Health and Science Center
Northwest Nazarene University broke ground on the new Thomas Health and Science Center on October 17, 2007 to better meet the needs of the nursing, biology, chemistry, physics, math and computer science departments and their students. The new facility is composed of 50,000 total square feet with laboratories devoted to nursing clinicals and simulation. In addition to five classrooms and eleven teaching laboratories, the Thomas Health and Science Center will also feature cadaver dissection laboratories, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy facility, microscopy and cell culture facilities, a vivarium and a state-of-the-art air handling system for biology and chemistry. The building will be dedicated in the fall of 2009.
Nagel and HELP scholarships
Scholarships from community programs and businesses such as The Nagel Foundation and H.E.L.P. (Health Education Leadership Program) have assisted students as they fund their nursing education. In 2007-2008 alone, The Nagel Foundation provided $300,000 in scholarships, the majority of which were awarded to nursing students. H.E.L.P., a Nampa organization, has given $107,000 via 59 nursing scholarships since 2002.
Once students are admitted to the nursing program, they become eligible for such aide. Read more on the Nagel Foundation scholarships here.
NNU students take medical mission trip to Mexico
Northwest Nazarene University participates in a variety of outreach opportunities throughout the year. Several of these outreaches are dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs of international communities. A group of 13 nursing students partnered with biology students to take what they had been learning in the classroom and put it into practice.
Equipped with approximately $40,000 worth of medical supplies, medicine, toys, soaps, toothpaste and toothbrushes donated from the community and Nampa businesses, the team was well prepared for what was ahead of them. Thirteen nursing students and three biology students with an emphasis in medicine were able to help meet physical needs of clients in two different communities of Mexico—Reynosa and Rio Bravo. Setting-up a free health clinic in each community, the students were prepared to meet medical needs. The students’ lives and professional experiences were greatly influenced.
“These two communities were extremely different,” said NNU Professor Jan Crabill, MSN RN of the nursing department and co-coordinator for the trip. “Rio Bravo was a small rural area with little medical support, where we spent three days working in the city’s municipal gymnasium, while Reynosa was more urban with limited medical support and we the students provided care from the sanctuary of the Reynosa Church of the Nazarene.”
Each day the students assessed between 50-60 adults and children providing them with a free medical examination and prescriptions. The students were able to experience the complete care of patients, listening to their needs and concerns while helping the clients move through each stage of the process and helping them determine the best forms of long-term care before they left. The children even received a small toy as they left the clinics.
The effectiveness of the trip is clearly heard in the response of patients and students as they reflected on the experience. One elderly gentleman arrived with abrasions on his leg that was wrapped with paper towels. As the students removed the wrappings it became clear that the wound was in great need of some medical attention. They learned that the sore had been on the client’s leg for six years. After a cleaning, the students taught the man how to wrap and un-wrap his leg without removing the skin, how to apply an antibiotic cream to assist in the healing of the wound and they also provided him with the medical resources he needed for long-term care. The next day he returned and exclaimed that this group had done for him in one day what he had been unable to get in six years.
“I have more of a servant’s heart, being more compassionate about the needs of patients and putting the needs of other people before my own,” said NNU nursing student Nataliya Borisov. “My global outlook has expended greatly as a result of this experience.”
Retired NNU faculty and co-coordinator of the trip, Dr. Chris Kapicka, believes these experiences provide many personal and professional experiences for the students. They have an opportunity to experience different health care systems and cultures, they quickly learn how blessed they are medically speaking in America and, despite their differences, how they can be a blessing to those in need.
“Now that I am retired from NNU, I do these trips because I believe it provides a lasting impression on the students and the patients,” said Dr. Kapicka. “Hopefully it will change the students’ lives forever.”