Texas Tech to build $15 M Nursing School in Abilene

By Brian Bethel

Texas Tech University will build a $15 million nursing school in Abilene in a mirror-image of its existing pharmacy school.

The Abilene community has contributed about $13 million of that amount so far, said Tim Lancaster, president and chief executive officer of Hendrick Health System.

Construction will start in the next few months, with the intent of being open in August 2012. The nursing school will attach to the existing Texas Tech pharmacy school at 1718 Pine St.

The project will not have any effect on Hendrick's existing partnerships with the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing or other local programs, Lancaster said.

The new facility will enable the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing at Abilene "to grow to its full potential, thus helping to alleviate the state's nursing shortage," said Pearl Merritt, regional dean of the Abilene program.

Tech first partnered with Hendrick in 2008 to establish a web-based, second-degree nursing program in Abilene, and then expanded its traditional bachelor of science program to Abilene in May 2009.

"About 95 percent of the students who have graduated with a second degree ended up staying in Abilene," Merritt noted.

Currently 56 students are enrolled in Tech's Abilene program. Estimates are the school will have an additional 104 students by 2015.

Tedd Mitchell, president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, said that times have been tough for both universities and hospitals alike and the current economic climate means institutions like Tech have to rely on community support for expansion.

About $13 million for the project has been raised from donations from the community, but officials said a list of donors would not be released at this time.

Lancaster said Hendrick's ties with Tech had been "invaluable" in the face of the state's still-pressing nursing shortage.

The recent economic slowdown has prompted some nurses who have left the field to return, he said, which has eased the need for nurses somewhat. But the reality is that the demand for nurses has not gone away.

The Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies estimates that with strategies already in place, Texas will still be short 71,000 nurses by 2020.

State Sen. Troy Fraser, in attendance at the announcement Friday morning, said that Texas' status as the fastest-growing state in the U.S. in part drives its large need for nurses.

Future Training

Choices for those seeking nursing training in the Abilene area are numerous.

Other programs in Abilene include offerings at Cisco College and at the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing, a long-standing consortium agreement between Abilene's four-year Christian colleges.

In 2013, Abilene Christian University, which has been part of the Patty Hanks consortium, will start its own nursing school. Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University remain consortium members.

Texas State Technical College offers various levels of nursing programs in Breckenridge, Brownwood and Sweetwater. Ranger College and Western Texas College also offer nursing programs in the area, plus there is a nursing agreement between Hendrick Health System and Angelo State University.

Even with all of those area players, "it's still not enough," Lancaster said.

Currently, Hendrick alone has about "30 or so" vacancies in nursing positions, Lancaster said.

"So we need every program we have," he said.

Tech's Mitchell said that he has had meetings with other programs in town about "ways to cross-pollinate, if you will, faculty and the like so that we're not all trying to do same thing."

Officials at Abilene Christian University and McMurry University said that there was little surprise in Friday's announcement.

"I think the type of populations we'll serve will be different," said Tamara Long, director of campus recruiting at ACU, who said the university's goal was a "four-year experience" for nursing students seeking a Christian-based education.

In addition to the prevailing need for nurses in Texas, "there aren't enough nursing schools to support the number of students wanting to go to nursing school right now," she said.

Paul Fabrizio, vice president for academic affairs at McMurry University, said the Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing's goal was to "continue to do what we do, which is educating nurses in a faith-based environment."

"We're confident that people already know the quality of the nurses that we produce, and we're confident that people will still be attracted to come to Patty Hanks Shelton," he said, again echoing the need throughout the state.

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