Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University and Heritage Enterprises are collaborating on the project, “Expanding the Teaching-Nursing Home Culture in the State of Illinois,” with funding from a five-year, $1.48 million grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
The grant money is funding a demonstration project to provide standardized orientation and continuing education in geriatric care best practices for new nurses hired by Heritage Enterprises nursing homes across Illinois. The funding will also support the development of a graduate program focus in gerontology nursing at Mennonite College of Nursing.
The program will serve as a model of nursing partnership efforts between academia and practice settings to address recruitment and retention, and could eventually be adopted by other nursing homes in Illinois.
Mennonite College of Nursing is currently partnered with four Heritage nursing homes in Bloomington, Normal, El Paso and Colfax in the Joe Warner Teaching Nursing Home Project that provides student nurses with advanced education on care for older adults and helps to recruit nursing graduates into nursing home careers.
The new project will build on the existing collaboration by allowing Mennonite to partner with approximately 20 Heritage nursing homes across Illinois in the next five years. Experience gathered from the Joe Warner Teaching Nursing Home Project will be used to develop job orientation materials for nurses newly hired into the Heritage system.
The IDPH grant money will be used to develop Web-based job orientation and geriatric care best practice educational materials for Heritage nursing staff. The money will also fund the development of on-site mentoring programs for newly hired nurses and provide scholarship assistance for nurses who wish to take the National Gerontological Nurse Certification Exam.
The project will serve as a blueprint for collaborative partnerships between other nursing schools and nursing homes across the state. Nursing schools at Illinois community colleges will receive guidance in partnering with nursing homes and associate degree nursing graduates will receive mentoring on baccalaureate education and careers in gerontological nursing as part of a community college consortium. Additionally, the grant will facilitate preparation of registered nurses with graduate level expertise in gerontology. These nurses will fill gaps in care of older adults across the state.
“Mennonite College of Nursing and Heritage Enterprises have an established relationship that puts best practices in care of older adults at the forefront,” said Sara Campbell, associate dean, associate professor and project principal investigator, Mennonite College of Nursing. “Mennonite is committed to graduating nurses who have expertise in care of older adults. Working with Heritage facilitates the educational process and provides the opportunity to also create a working environment that supports and encourages excellent care and improved health outcomes for nursing home residents. This project will pave the way for creating and supporting quality care of older adults across the state.”
“We are very pleased to work with Mennonite College of Nursing to receive this grant and to be able to expand this project to our facilities throughout the state,” said Steve Wannemacher, President and CEO of Heritage Enterprises, Inc. “This funding will allow us to continue building on our nurses' skills and knowledge so that we are doing our best to meet the needs of residents. The funding comes at a crucial time. As the population in the U.S. continues to age, the number of people requiring nursing home care will increase. This project will help ensure that adequate numbers of qualified, well-trained nurses are there to provide care for those who need it. Thanks to this funding and the Joe Warner Teaching Nursing Home Project, Heritage Enterprises will be well positioned to continue meeting the specialized and changing needs of older adults well into the future.”