Hospital, college in Springfield team up on nursing shortage

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Lincoln Land Community College and Memorial Health System will team up to expand nursing education to address a national shortage.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports Lincoln Land will admit 90 additional nursing students beginning in the fall of 2021, for a total of 215 per year.

Memorial Health System will contribute $6.1 million to renovate parts of a hall on campus as a nursing center. The money will also buy state-of-the-art equipment and allow hiring of additional faculty for the program.

Lincoln Land President Charlotte Warren said there will be a shortage of 21,000 nurses in Illinois next year. One-quarter of the current nursing workforce will retire within the next five years, she said.

Memorial Health System President and CEO Ed Curtis said the typical nursing graduate today takes a job within 15 miles of where she or he went to college. He said 90 additional graduates from Lincoln Land each year will help not only Memorial but other health care facilities in central and southern Illinois.