ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
Radford University's School of Nursing has received a $715,000 federal grant that assures its family nurse practitioner program will begin this fall, the college said Thursday.
Courses for the master's degree program were already in the catalog, faculty were being trained and the college had the names of 51 potential applicants, but it did not have the money for faculty textbooks and materials, said Janet Boettcher, chairwoman of the nursing school.
The grant, from the Public Health Service's Division of Nursing, fills that gap for the next three years, she said.
Nurse practitioners can perform physical examinations, treat patients for certain illnesses and prescribe medications. They are especially in demand in counties that have no physicians or too few physicians to serve the population, Boettcher said.
The university will accept 10 students for the fall class and will give preference to students with a commitment to rural health care. Of the 30 localities in Southwest Virginia, 24 lack enough primary care providers, according to the Virginia Primary Care Association.
Since 80 percent of registered nurses practice in their home communities, the new program gives Southwest Virginia nurses an opportunity to upgrade their skills without having to leave the area, Boettcher said. Other nurse practitioner programs in Virginia are in Fairfax, Charlottesville, Richmond and Norfolk.
The college next will be looking for money to buy a mobile medical screening unit, she said. It would give students in the new program practical experience and be a way to improve the health of Southwest Virginia residents through prevention and early detection.
Southwest Virginia's poor health care standing was one of the reasons Radford's practitioner program was among 15 projects funded from 150 applicants, she said. The area's death rate was 11.7 per 1,000 population in 1991, while the rate for the state as a whole was 7.9. The rate indicates a lack of prevention, early detection and treatment, she said.
Radford University President Douglas Covington said one of his commitments is to expand Radford's outreach efforts, and the nurse practitioner program and mobile screening unit are only part of it. The school also will include a clinic in the $7.5 million Waldron College of Nursing and Health Services building, on which the university expects to break ground in 1998.
A committee made up of college, private health care and community representatives will be convened this summer to study how the clinic can be most effective, Covington said. The clinic might serve the public, he said, or possibly provide health care for students, which is now performed by a private company.
Covington said he also wants the university to work more closely with the Area Health Education Council, a federally funded group that helps recruit health care workers and runs outreach programs in schools.
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