BRATTLEBORO — Vermont Technical College's Brattleboro nursing campus will hold an open house on Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 4 to 6 p.m. at its campus on the second floor of the Brooks House on Main Street.
There will be blood pressure reading and hand-washing demonstrations. VTC admissions counselors, nursing instructors, nurses, and student nurses will be on hand to talk about nursing and the VTC program.
Community College of Vermont academic advisors will also be available to talk about prerequisite nursing courses and a program for high school students allowing them to take college-level classes for free.
VTC's nursing program in Brattleboro, one of the nation's first practical schools of nursing, was started in the immediate wake of the Civil War and has been in continuous existence since 1907, when funds from Thomas Thompson's estate made it possible. It has been part of Vermont Technical College since 1994.
Many people walking on Main Street in Brattleboro are often unaware of the hard-working instructors and student nurses just above them in the Brooks House. This year's faculty include a nurse practitioner, obstetrics nurse, psychiatric nurse, neonatal nurse, operating room nurse, and hospital nursing supervisor.
Former VTC Brattleboro graduates are employed at all of the area's health facilities - including Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Brattleboro Retreat, Grace Cottage Hospital, Pine Heights Health Care and Rehabilitation, as well as at health care facilities, agencies, and doctors' offices in neighboring Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York.
A career with a future
As The New York Times reported in February, registered nurses now account for the third largest middle-income occupation in the United States.
“We are at the bell curve,” said VTC Site Director Becky Steele in a news release. “Baby boomers just began to retire three years ago, and now not only do they increasingly require health care, many baby-boomer nurses are beginning to retire as well - and there will be a critical shortage of health care workers in the near future.”
Steele said VTC's Brattleboro's campus has the distinction of being able to offer a high-tech nursing education right here in southern Vermont, easily accessible to potential nursing students in Brattleboro and its neighboring communities.
It is one of five regional campuses with nine locations across Vermont, with a central campus in Randolph.
In August, the Practical Nursing (LPN) and Associate Degree in Nursing (RN) programs were notified of their continuing official accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN).
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program, an online program started a year and a half ago, also achieved accreditation.
Vermont Tech nursing program graduates claim some of the highest pass rates for their boards (NCLEX) in the nation. Each year the program graduates approximately 130 future RNs and 150 soon-to-be LPNs. The first two students graduated from last year's inaugural online BSN program, and 59 students are enrolled in this year's bachelor's program.