May 6, 2008 — As area health-care professionals mark Nurses Week in the Virgin Islands, news comes that a program to augment the nursing ranks at the Roy Lester Schneider (RLS) Hospital has gotten a green light.
The V.I. Board of Nurse Licensure has certified the RLS Medical Center School of Practical Nursing, established at the hospital in 2002 and which admitted its first class in 2003. The certification launches the program on the path to gaining national accreditation, which in turn will open more doors for graduates interested in enhancing their credentials.
Currently three schools, including the University of the Virgin Islands, accept graduates of the local program who want to earn enhanced nursing degrees. That number will expand significantly once the program gains national accreditation.
"Once we get that, it will give our students better opportunities to enter many more universities," said June A. Adams, board chair of both the hospital and the nursing program. Adams said she hopes the national accreditation will come by year's end.
The nursing program is a 15-month, full-time endeavor that this year admitted 20 students. They learn everything about bedside care, including administering injections and intravenous hook-ups, Adams said. Candidates must have a high school diploma or GED, and pass an interview, which in part assesses their commitment to the ideals of nursing.
"Nursing is not a job, it's a vocation — it's a ministry of caring," Adams said. "You have to have empathy, sympathy and compassion to deal with a sick person. You are a special person who has an opportunity to be there when someone comes into the world, to take care of a person during an illness, and when the time comes for them to leave the world, that they leave with dignity."
Adams looks for candidates who have "heart" as well as tenacity.
The program uses university-level textbooks and is rigorous, she said. The cost is $5,000, and financial aid is available, according to Adams, who said the graduates help fill the nursing void on the island.
"The same shortage here as, I would say nationwide," Adams said. "There are shortages in every jurisdiction, every jurisdiction."
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