Southern Vermont College

On a glorious Saturday (September 26), we officially opened Hunter Hall and Greenberg Atrium.  And, it was a glorious Grand Opening. Members of the Hunter and Greenberg families were there to share the moment as were representatives from Senator Leahy’s office and the SVC Board of Trustees. Faculty, students, homecoming parents, alumni, community members and friends of the college were all on hand to cheer!

From the opening blessing delivered eloquently by Reverend Jerrod Hugenot, pastor of the First Baptist Church and representative of the Interfaith Council, to the closing song (These Green Mountains) sung by the Bennington Chorale Society, the event was moving.

It felt like the perfect way to instill in the audience how this new space and place lifts the College and offers new opportunities for our students. Our student speaker, junior Adam Northup, captured this sentiment in his remarks when he observed: “…Hunter Hall shows the commitment of the College to its students…a place for all of its students to learn and grow.”

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As we reflect on the healthcare situation in America, it is clear that there is and will continue to be a nursing shortage.  While the precise estimates vary depending on the source, there will clearly be hundreds of thousands of unfilled nursing positions in hospitals and nursing homes in the coming decades.  President Obama has specifically noted the crisis and has expressed “alarm.”

The reasons for the shortages are complex.  They include the following: There is a capacity problem within nursing schools.  There are too few nursing faculty.  Nursing programs are expensive to run.  There are shortages in clinical opportunities needed for accreditation.  Many of the current nurses are approaching their retirement years.  Many nurses move out of direct care delivery into management positions within hospitals or other healthcare facilities.

These shortages put patients at risk, and as a nation, we need to be deliberate in expanding our nursing programs to enable more students to enter this critical field.  At Southern Vermont College, we are doing just that. We are expanding our nursing programs — enabling a greater number of prospective nurses to enter them.

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 Mary Travers

 Gone

 My childhood, my memories

 Still here, fading fast.