Harlan Kirgan
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at the Lafayette General Southwest Medical Office Building signaled a major milestone for the LSUE nursing program.
Louisiana State University Eunice in conjunction with Lafayette General will begin its first nursing class in Lafayette with 20 studetns, Chancellor Kimberly Russell said.
“They are providing a classroom space and laboratory space so that we can have second selection and that will occur every spring,” she said.
LSUE’s nursing program currently operates at the Health Technology Building and graduates 60 to 80 students a year, she said.
Within three years the Lafayette location is expected to also graduate up to 80 registered nurses.
The expansion is necessary because the demand for nurses is not being met, she said.
We can’t possibly meet the demand. That’s why Lafayette General got involved,” she said.
The Southwest campus has 100 beds empty because the nursing staff cannot be found, she said.
The shortage is felt across the state, she said.
The demand is so great in the state and really nationally,” she said.
“It is a big deal,” Russell said of the expansion. “And, really it is our response to their need. We are not expanding to Lafayette just because we want to have more students or anything like that. It is really meeting the industry’s demands.”
A site coordinator has been hired for the Lafayette program, she said.
Some faculty will be shared and others will be drawn from the Lafayette area. A lecture schedule will mesh with that done at the LSUE campus, she said.
The nursing eduction includes a year of pre-requisites and two years of nursing training.
Other LSUE health care programs are a likely to expand in the future, she said.