Penfield Children’s Center and Mount Mary University School of Nursing are collaborating on a program aimed at training the next generation of nurses while addressing a demand for community health care in Milwaukee.
Through supervised placements overseen by Penfield Children’s Center, MMU student nurses will connect with the city’s underserved populations, according to a press release about the program. Short term rotations will allow students to gain a diverse range of experiences, such as teaching workshops or conducting in-home wellness checks.
The nurses-in-training will learn how to work with families while delivering beneficial, in-demand services – delivering care through home and site visits. The program will start this fall.
Mount Mary’s nursing program currently works with the Milwaukee Catholic Home and Trinity Woods intergenerational living facility to deliver care to elderly residents. The Penfield Children’s Center connection will add a pediatric care component, rounding out the nurses’ essential skillset across the lifespan.
The partnership is expected to provide experiences to students while addressing the critical nursing shortage that continues to loom in the health care industry, the release states.
“Community nursing is the new gold standard for health care,” said Gean Swiatko-Klee, assistant professor, and program chair of the MMU School of Nursing. “There is a huge need within our city. If we can focus on prevention, we can limit the damage caused by illness.”
