Published: January 09, 2009 11:22 pm      

Health care college fair will be Monday

By Samantha Pidde

Herald Staff Writer

CLINTON — Mercy Medical Center will be offering area residents the opportunity to learn about health care career opportunities at the Mercy Medical Center Health Care College Fair on Monday.

The Health Care College Fair is being sponsored by the Mercy Medical Center Nursing Shared Governance — Education and Research Council. One of this council’s missions is to cultivate the nursing profession through self-motivated continuous learning, which allows for quality care for the patients.

“We have excellent nurses here at Mercy. However, we are looking to raise the bar by cultivating an environment of continuous learning. Research shows that an increase in clinical and professional development of nurses leads to improved patient outcomes,” stated Cindi Burkholder, clinical development specialist with Mercy, in a press release. She added they also are encouraging their nurses to pursue certification in their nursing specialty as another way to reach excellence in patient care.

“This type of nursing culture creates a compassionate healing environment and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Burkholder.

Burkholder said the idea for the Health Care College Fair grew from a desire to encourage the clinical and professional development of the nurses. She added it was soon recognized that it was necessary to include other health care disciplines in order to achieve the high level of care they seek.

The Health Care College Fair will be open to anyone interested in obtaining a degree in health care or advancing their existing degree. Participants will be offered an opportunity to meet with representatives from colleges and universities. Colleges and universities participating in the event will include: Ashford University, Clarke College, Eastern Community College, Hamilton Tech, St. Ambrose University, Trinity College of Nursing and Health Services, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Iowa College of Nursing and University of St. Francis. Information regarding admission requirements, program availability, tuition and other details will be available at the event.

The Health Care College Fair will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday in the lower level conference center, 1410 N. Fourth St. Door prizes and refreshments will be available. The Mercy Health Care Foundation also will be offering a $500 essay scholarship at the fair. Burkholder encouraged people to come to the event, especially high school students interested in pursuing a health care career.

“The community will benefit from this event as they will not only learn more about health care career opportunities but also they would have a chance to see how we are adapting the delivery of health care to meet the changing need of the community,” stated Burkholder.