Nebraska’s medical community faces a shortage of more than 4,000 nurses by 2020, and the current national shortage of nurses is expected to grow by more than 20 percent over the next decade.

The College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is taking steps to address these and other challenges. It’s rallying around modern facilities to take in more students, creating accelerated education programs, proposing higher academic standards for better care quality, and making certain its graduates are prepared for the challenges ahead.

This summer, the college made notable strides toward its goal of educating more nurses in the state with the opening of a new education center in Norfolk, Neb., on the campus of Northeast Community College.

Representing a unique community partnership, the new 44,000-square-foot facility is home to associate degree, bachelor’s degree and graduate-level programs in nursing as well as programs for nursing aides, medication aides and practical nursing.

Private funding for the facility was made possible through a community-based $11.9 million campaign. The campaign reached a successful conclusion following a capstone gift of more than $1 million from Norfolk philanthropists J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh. In recognition of their investment, it was named the J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh College of Nursing.

Riley Ohde of Atkinson, Neb., is among the first students to enroll in the Norfolk nursing program.

“I am very excited to attend a great nursing school in a small town,” he said. “If the new UNMC division had not been built in Norfolk, I would have had to travel much farther away for my BSN or stop my education after my associate’s degree.

“I chose to be a nurse because I want to help others. I would really love to return to Atkinson after receiving my BSN and work there.”

James B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska, added his appreciation for the new college.

“The J. Paul and Eleanor McIntosh College of Nursing is a truly remarkable collaboration between the public and private sectors to meet the state’s most pressing need in nursing education,” Milliken said. “We are grateful to our partners in this effort, including generous private supporters, Senator Mike Flood, Northeast Community College, Faith Regional Health Services, area hospitals, the city of Norfolk and others for their support and hard work.”

According to UNMC, the new college will help reduce the current and projected shortage of nurses, particularly those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. As the only public-supported nursing college in northeast Nebraska, it now enables area students to attain education at a more affordable cost.

“The collective spirit that made this college and facility possible is truly impressive,” said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., chancellor of UNMC. “This is a story of success, a story about the length to which a community will go for its citizens, and a story about one solution to the nursing shortage in Nebraska.”

Faith Regional Health Services of Norfolk, a partner in the project, along with other area hospitals and nursing homes, will serve as clinical training sites for the nursing students.

UNMC has other nursing divisions in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, and Scottsbluff. This summer, the medical center began construction of a new privately funded academic nursing facility in Omaha and also announced the NU board of regents’ support for a new nursing center in Lincoln on UNL’s East Campus.

For more information about nursing programs in Norfolk, contact Jackie Smith at 402-844-7890.

For information about supporting the College of Nursing, please consider an online gift or contact Kathy Wolfe, director of development, at 402-502-4118 or 800-432-3216.