MWCC News & Events: What's Up at the Mount

MWCC's weekly e-newsletter

Friday, March 31, 2006

Advocates for National Nurse Speak at MWCC

By Janice Battista

Organizers behind a growing movement to create a position of National Nurse to improve the health of Americans brought their message to students, educators and public officials this week as part of Mount Wachusett Community College’s 2006 What’s Next Speaker Series.

In introducing the speakers, MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino emphasized that improving the country’s health care system and delivery to residents should be a top national priority. “We have so many uninsured individuals. That is a tragedy, not only here in Massachusetts, but throughout the country. It is crucial to have the community colleges at the forefront of this effort because it is the community colleges that educate 60 percent of our country’s nurses,” he said.

“The country needs an office of National Nurse to focus on providing every American with preventive health care resources,” said Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP, a nursing program coordinator at Portland Community College in Oregon and a nurse practitioner for two counties in Washington state. Mills and Alisa Schneider, RN, MSN, CNE, a nurse educator at Portland Community College and a registered nurse for 16 years, urged an audience of approximately 200 to get involved in the effort to lobby congress to create the post.

“America needs health care. What we have is sick care,” Schneider said. Not only are 46 million Americans uninsured, but millions more are underinsured to meet their health needs, she explained. “Eventually, they end up in the emergency room, the most costly type of primary care, and children are receiving their primary care in the emergency room." Even many of those who do have health insurance often do not understand their illnesses or how to take proactive measures to improve their condition. By advocating preventive care, the Office of the National Nurse would help address some of the leading causes of disease, such as obesity, smoking, and diabetes.

The Office of the National Nurse would reinforce the message of prevention to communities across the country by involving citizens in preventive health practices, complement health services already in place, focus national attention on the nursing profession, and establish volunteer National Nurse teams to deliver health education to the public and assist in emergency situations in their own communities.

In May, 2005, Mills’ opinion piece in The New York Times sparked national interest in the movement. A bill to create the position was introduced in Congress in March by U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-California, who is also a nurse. To date, five additional lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors. Mills and Schneider are seeking a companion bill in the Senate and are lobbying U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, as a lead sponsor.

New Hampshire State Rep. Marcia Moody, D-Newmarket, and Roxanne Fulcher, director of Health Professions for the American Association of Community Colleges were also among the featured speakers.

The American Association of Community Colleges endorses the effort Fulcher said, “because it would bring RNs from all education levels together to promote health and prevent disease and reach out in communities to make American healthier.”

The March 31 talk was co-sponsored by the MWCC Center for Democracy and Humanity, the Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and Safety, and the MWCC School of Health Sciences.

 

Mount Wachusett Community College named Business of the Year

MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino

By Lea Ann Erickson

Mount Wachusett Community College was named the 2006 Business of the Year at the Wachusett Chamber of Commerce 91st Annual Meeting, Wed., Mar. 29. “Mount Wachusett Community College truly embraces its role of improving our communities,” said 2006 Annual Meeting Chair Kerry Flathers of the Perkins School in presenting the award to MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino. “The college responds to the changing needs of our children, students, parents, business professionals and our seniors,” she added.

In accepting the award, Asquino said, “We’re proud to receive this award. You are our community. “We look forward to working with and strengthening and enriching our communities.”

• The college’s impact in the Wachusett Region is significant. Through a cooperative venture among Nypro, Mount Wachusett community College and Fitchburg State College, students will first complete a set of core technical courses at Nypro. Then they can transfer to the Mount. When they finish, students can transfer into Fitchburg State’s industrial technology bachelor’s degree program.
• The Entrepreneurial Resource Center has developed a full roster of workshops, spearheaded a regional a business plan competition and was nominated for the prestigious 2006 bellwether award for that competition. The college’s first-ever business plan competition for North Central Massachusetts entrepreneurs attracted business professionals from all over the region to be sponsors and volunteer judges.
• Since 1993, Project Greater Opportunities has partnered with the Clinton Public Schools to work with students in 7th through 12th grade who would be the first in their families to attend college. This program gives them support, additional experiences, leadership development and community-service opportunities that they need to succeed in school and go on to any college.
• Through the Institute for Nonprofit Development and our membership on various boards, MWCC supports Wachusett-area organizations, including the Clinton Hospital Foundation, Perkins School, wheat community services and Robert F. Kennedy children’s action corps.