Schools

Lindenwood, SCC to Open Nursing and Allied Health School

Colleges partner to open a Center for Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at the former Barat Academy building in Dardenne Prairie. Lindenwood will offer an RN to BSN completion degree starting in the fall.

Students seeking to complete their bachelor's degree in nursing will have another option for school in St. Charles County starting this August. 

Lindenwood University and St. Charles Community College have partnered to open the Center for Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at the former Barat Academy building in Dardenne Prairie. 

Lindenwood University will offer an RN (Registered Nurse) to BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing) degree program at the Center.  

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Students enrolled in the Associates Degree in Nursing program at St. Charles Community College will be able to apply for early admission to Lindenwood University and take a few bachelors degree courses before officially getting their license.

From there, students can transfer to Lindenwood to complete their BSN. 

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The SCC nursing and allied health courses will be held at the center starting this fall, which will allow students to transition easily from one program to the next. 

"They're already in this building, they're familiar with the faculty from both sides, they're familiar with the staff from both sides, familiar with the virtual hospital," said Patti Williams, dean of Nursing and Allied Health for SCC. "It's an easy transition. They just continue on. It's an easy way to encourage students to get that advanced degree." 

The program serves a need for students who can't afford to go through a program like University of Missouri-St. Louis or St. Louis University for a bachelors degree in nursing, said Peggy Ellis, dean of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences for Lindenwood. 

Classes in the ADN program will begin at the Center Aug. 19. Lindenwood University's BSN completion program offers a hybrid of online and in person classes at the center and will also begin in the fall. 

Colleges Sign Joint Agreement for Center 

Last fall, Lindenwood  located at 1 Academy Place in Dardenne Prairie, for a little more than $8 million.

St. Charles Community College will lease most of the second floor of the building from Lindenwood, said Ron Chesbrough, president of the college, paying $150,000 a year over five years. The additional cost to the college will be paid for with tuition and fees, Chesbrough said. 

Chesbrough and James Evans, president of Lindenwood, signed a joint agreement at the Center on Thursday morning. 

St. Charles Community College will build a virtual hospital in the center, which will be the first of its kind in the region. 

The virtual hospital will have a birthing, pediatric and medical/surgical care rooms each equipped with a a simulator that can give students simulated clinical experiences. 

The college was awarded a $1 million Training for Tomorrow grant in 2010 which will help pay for the virtual hospital and to expand capacity of the nursing program. 

"It's a grant that, if we hadn't found a space to expand in to, we wouldn't have been able to use,"Chesbrough said. 

The college will use the vacated space on the main SCC campus for new science labs. Many of those courses have wait lists, Chesbrough said.  

Chesbrough expects to be able to expand course offerings in the nursing and allied health programs. Current enrollment is 420 and by 2016 should grow to 720, he said. The college will add three or four new teaching positions that will be funded with the grant, he said. 

The St. Charles Community College Foundation will do fundraising to help pay for high-tech equipment for the virtual hospital and scholarships for students. 

Lindenwood plans to expand its offerings at the Center going forward. Future courses could include a Masters in Nursing program. a Bachelors in Occupational Therapy and Bachelors in Nutrition and Dietetics. 

Learn more about the St. Charles Community College Associates Degree in Nursing program. Learn more about Lindenwood University's RN to BSN program.


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