Beacon Health and Ivy Tech team up to help ease nursing shortage in South Bend area

Two years ago, as phrases like ‘social distancing’ and ‘flatten the curve’ grew more common, the health care industry worked at breakneck speed to increase capacity.

Overflow units were established in schools, parking lots and convention centers as doctors and nurses braced for the spread of a new virus – COVID-19.

Today, as a new, more contagious variant of the virus consumes the United States, some of the physical infrastructure from those early days remain. What’s not changed, though, is a growing shortage of health care workers needed to care for the predominantly unvaccinated population filling emergency rooms and intensive care units.

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About 18% of nearly 5,500 hospitals across the country reported shortages in critical care staff on Wednesday, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data, and nearly 25% – or more than 1 in 4 hospitals – said they anticipate shortages within the week.

Nurses rank among the greatest needs in Beacon Health System, CEO Kreg Gruber said. The hospital system posted 350 openings in its time of greatest need, Gruber said.

Beacon Health employs more than 2,000 licensed registered nurses in part-time and full-time positions across its system, a spokeswoman said. Those positions include bed-side, and other clinical and non-clinical roles. Gruber said the system has at times turned to temporary labor or has assigned extra shifts and overtime to fill its gaps.

“That’s not sustainable,” the CEO said. “We’ve got amazing people who step up, but that’s not something you want to do long term.”

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So Beacon is teaming up with Ivy Tech Community College’s South Bend-Elkhart campus to address one challenge industry experts say is contributing to the nation’s nursing shortage; lacking resources to teach all students interested in nursing careers.

Through a new partnership, called the Beacon Scholars Program, the Beacon Hospital System will support the cost of classes and books, as well as a living stipend, for up to 75 students a year over the next five years through Ivy Tech’s nursing program.

The program will begin this fall and support students as they work toward earning a two-year nursing degree. Upon completion of the program, students are guaranteed placement in a Beacon Health location.

In return, Beacon will likely ask students to commit to working between three to five years with the health system. Although, Gruber said, the goal is to keep those nurses on board long after.

“Our hope is, obviously, once they get going and they love it, they’re here forever,” Gruber said.

Nursing program capacity expands

The coronavirus pandemic is stressing an industry that was already feeling the strain of nursing shortages. A loss of nurses was expected before 2020 as more and more baby boomers retire from the profession. But, as the omicron variant rages on, the industry has been struck with a culmination of challenges, Gruber said. Nurses are retiring, burning out and leaving for other careers.

“This is really about a workforce issue that’s been building over the years,” the Beacon chief said. “And, it’s going to last beyond the pandemic.”

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One of the largest barriers to filling those openings, according to the American Association of Colleges and Nursing, is a shortage of available faculty, classroom space or clinical resources needed to serve students.

A recent study from the association found U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 80,000 qualified applicants to baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2019 due to these limitations.

Jenny Shoemaker, a marketing and communications director for Ivy Tech, said the college traditionally receives far more applications for its nursing program than it has the ability to serve. With a recent expansion of its nursing lab space, Shoemaker said, the South Bend-Elkhart campus was able to admit 150 students up from 120 before the program’s 2020 expansion.

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Through the partnership, Beacon has committed to providing faculty instructors from its own system to help serve more students. The exact number of faculty provided will vary based on scheduling and individuals’ ability to teach part-time versus full-time during a given term, Shoemaker said.

The college anticipates it will be able to grow its enrollment by 60% at the South Bend-Elkhart campus over the next five years thanks to the partnership.

“Our hope is that as this gets rolling, it becomes a model for other campuses and other health systems,” Shoemaker said.

Scholarship offers support for adult learners

Beacon will select the scholars accepted into the new program. Gruber said his team is looking for students who have a passion for learning, serving their community and taking care of others. The program will place an emphasis on candidates from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, especially adult learners and first-time college students.

To sweeten the deal, Beacon will also offer a cost-of-living stipend. The exact amount hasn’t been determined yet, but organizers say they hope to support some of the expenses, like child care, that might ordinarily keep adult learners from returning to school.

“That’s key to really finding potential candidates that would love to have the opportunity and have the capacity to do it from an academic perspective,” Gruber said. “You’ve got to open up those new channels for people.”

Though the last couple of years in health care have been difficult, Gruber said he believes nurses can still find rewarding careers in the profession.

“If you get great satisfaction out of making a difference in someone’s life, health care’s for you and nursing is for you,” Gruber said. “Yes, it’s hard and it can be physically and emotionally challenging, but you will get recharged by those things because you will have the opportunity everyday to impact somebody.”

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: New South Bend nursing program comes to Beacon Health and Ivy Tech