Media Advisory: Eastern to celebrate National Nurses Week, highlighting new nursing program and Hartford HealthCare partnership

Media Advisory: Eastern to celebrate National Nurses Week, highlighting new nursing program and Hartford HealthCare partnership

Event kicks off May 6 with speakers and tours

by Lucinda Weiss

Willimantic, CT (05/02/2024) - Eastern Connecticut State University will celebrate National Nurses Week on May 6-9 in recognition of the University's new Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and its partnership with Hartford HealthCare to prepare more nurses to work in eastern Connecticut.

The National Nurses Week celebration will open May 6 at 11 a.m. in the Johnson Room of the J. Eugene Smith Library with remarks by distinguished speakers, followed by tours of Eastern's new nursing facilities and an exposition of medical equipment by Hartford HealthCares's Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation (CESI).

Speakers include Terrence Cheng, chancellor of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, and Stephen Donahue, director of operations at Hartford HealthCare's CESI; Sean Scanlon, comptroller for the State of Connecticut; Rocco Orlando, chief academic officer at Hartford HealthCare; and Eastern administrators/faculty including Provost Bill Salka, Dean of Arts and Science Emily Todd and Professor Yaw Nsiah, chair of the Department of Health Sciences and Nursing.

The opening ceremony will be followed by tours of Eastern's new nursing facilities at 12:15 p.m. in Goddard Hall and an exposition where CESI will demonstrate medical lab equipment.

Other guests include Michael Davis, senior director of operations and nursing at Windham Hospital, and Kaitlin Bolster, regional director of professional practice in the East Region of Hartford HealthCare. Local clinical placement partners, area school guidance counselors, and the nursing students who begin their nursing education at Eastern in the fall 2024 semester are also invited to the first celebration of National Nurses Week at Eastern.

Other events during the week are an information table in the lobby of Goddard Hall hosted by health sciences students/faculty and a breakfast for nursing students on Wednesday, May 8, National Nursing Students Day.

"We are delighted to formally introduce our new four-year bachelor's program in nursing," said Christina Nadeau, director of clinical education for the Department of Health Sciences and Nursing. "Our first cohort of 35 students is finishing their first year of health sciences and liberal arts preparation courses, ready to begin nursing courses in the coming fall 2024 semester."

The students will practice in three clinical skills labs on campus, including a maternity and pediatric room, a two-bed hospital room and an examination room. In collaboration with Hartford HealthCare, an additional 6,700 square-foot simulation facility will be completed at Windham Hospital in fall 2025, where students will have access to state-of-the-art equipment and additional nursing instruction from hospital staff.

"As we face nursing shortages across Connecticut and the country, it's critical that we continue to invest in our colleges and universities so they can be key workforce drivers for in-demand sectors," said CSCU Chancellor Cheng. "Eastern Connecticut State University's innovative partnership with Hartford HealthCare will allow us to train the next generation of nurses in a cutting-edge simulation facility at Windham Hospital and prepare them for meaningful careers in the healthcare field. This partnership is a true joint venture and a model for future organizations and healthcare partnerships."

For more information on Eastern's Nurses Week celebration, contact [email protected] .

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