A call for more nurses to be trained in Grey Bruce has gotten a response from the Province and now Georgian College in Owen Sound can create its own four-year nursing program.
Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano was at the Owen Sound campus Tuesday to announce changes that will allow Georgian and any other college in Ontario to offer a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing without having to be attached to a university.
It means students wouldn't have to leave the area to get a nursing degree.
Romano says he was made aware of a desire for a full nursing program in Owen Sound through a number of channels, not the least of which is that Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker sits beside Romano in the Legislature and has been talking about it.
Past Grey County Warden Selwyn Hicks also advocated for such a program at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference last summer and current Warden Paul McQueen advocated for it again at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in late January. On top of that, Georgian President MaryLynn West-Moynes has been a strong advocate for the program.
Right now, the first two years of a nursing degree can be done in Owen Sound, but the last two years of it are done at York University in Toronto, which has been criticized because many of those students then stay in the Toronto area.
Romano, who is also the MPP for Sault Ste. Marie says, “We know our healthcare needs are so significant across the province and we want to be able to really ensure that our qualified professionals can stay home and service the communities that they grew up in.”
The August 2019 AMO conference presentation Grey County made to the Minister's office said between Simcoe and Grey County healthcare providers, there is a projected need for about 4,300 nurses over the next ten years.
The County also estimated Grey Bruce's hospitals (South Bruce Grey Health Centre and Grey Bruce Health Services) would need about 500 of those nurses.
Georgian's MaryLynn West-Moynes explains the college has already created the curriculum for the program and has to get the approval of the Post Secondary Quality Education Assessment Board and the Ontario Nurses Association, which she says will take a number of months (which Minister Romano notes is a significantly shorter time than it used to be).
West-Moynes estimates the program would start in 2022 in Owen Sound and each year would have up to about 40 students in it.
That would mean it would be 2026 before some 40 students would begin graduating from the program each year. It would be around 12 more years before 500 grads came out of the local program.
MPP Bill Walker says this is a big step forward for the area, “This has a huge impact on our communities across Ontario. Every community you walk into is struggling with nursing, with healthcare, this is going to have a huge impact, positively for people to be able to stay in those communities, like Chesley in our own backyard that has a nursing shortage, this is going to be a game-changer.”
A pleasure to join @RossRomanoSSM at @georgiancollege in Owen Sound to announce that #colleges and #universities in Ontario may now offer Stand-Alone Nursing degrees! This removes barriers for students entering nursing programs and allows them to study in their home communities. https://t.co/Cuf1G7Rn9Z
— Bill Walker, MPP (@billwalkermpp) February 11, 2020