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By Sarah Ladd

Kentucky Lantern

The Tennessee-based Lincoln Memorial University is launching a School of Nursing site in partnership with CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington later in 2024, it announced Wednesday.

Students will be able to enroll for the fall 2024 semester at the new Caylor School of Nursing campus, LMU said in a statement.

The school, including classrooms, simulation rooms and laboratories, will go into a renovated office space in the Saint Joseph Office Park across Harrodsburg Road, according to the university. Students will get their clinical experience through CHI Saint Joseph and other partners.

“Recognizing the severe shortage of nurses that continues to plague Kentucky, we were pleased to work with Lincoln Memorial University to bring more nursing education opportunities to central Kentucky,” CHI executive Anthony A. Houston said in a statement.

Kentucky has an “acute shortage” of healthcare workers, Kentucky Health News reported in November. The state’s well-documented nursing shortage was only exacerbated by COVID-19 burnout and an aging worker population, the Lantern has reported. Additionally, shutdowns and restrictions stunted the normal education trajectory for Kentucky’s next generation of nurses during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, multiple initiatives hope to fix the issue.

Students pursuing an LMU Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) can get it in an accelerated 16-month path. Otherwise, the program is 122 credit hours.

LMU also has a Kentucky site in Corbin. To enroll or learn about financial assistance, interested students can email Lexington Site Coordinator and Coordinator of Nursing Recruitment and Advising Ethan Fultz at Ethan.Fultz@LMUnet.edu.

Melissa Bennett, the Chief Nurse Executive at CHI Saint Joseph Health, said that more training opportunities in Kentucky can help address the state’s health care workforce shortages.

“Nurses touch the lives of our patients and their families each and every day. They are critical to our mission to provide the highest quality of care to our patients,” she said in a statement. “Nursing careers always begin with education, and I am excited that Lincoln Memorial University will be bringing its successful nursing program to central Kentucky.”