Delgado Community College’s Charity School of Nursing invites prospective, current and pre-nursing students and their families to an Open House reception at the School of Nursing (450 S. Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, La.) 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. The Open House is presented by the Charity Association of Student Nurses and Charity School of Nursing Admissions Office. For more information, contact Carol Leefe at (504) 571-1324 and visit www.dcc.edu .
Students currently enrolled in Delgado’s renowned Registered Nursing (RN) program at the School of Nursing will provide tours of the historic campus, and faculty and staff members will be on hand to answer any and all questions about the RN program, including details about admissions, financial aid and more. As well, instructors and students will demonstrate some of the campus’ state-of-the-art technology and equipment. Refreshments will also be served at the event, which is free and open to the public.
“We welcome our current nursing and pre-nursing students, as well as anyone interested in learning more about Registered Nursing, to come visit the campus, meet our award-winning faculty and staff, and find out what it takes to become part of the legacy of Charity School of Nursing students and graduates,” said Carol Leefe, RN, MSN, assistant professor of Nursing and educational coordinator for Basics in Nursing. “We want everyone to see and to celebrate that Charity School of Nursing is still going strong, 115 years after its founding and 4 years after Katrina, continuing to contribute more nurses than any other program to Louisiana.”
The need for qualified RNs in Louisiana remains at critical levels. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s 2006-2016 Labor Report, Louisiana’s long-term annual demand for RNs is 1,990 through 2016. Delgado Community College’s Charity School of Nursing continues to play an essential role in helping to meet that demand, with graduating classes of 150-200 exceptional individuals every semester.
About Charity School of Nursing
Historically, Charity Hospital School of Nursing was founded as a Diploma Program in 1894 through the cooperative efforts of the Charity Hospital New Orleans (CHNO) Board of Administrators, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul and the Louisiana State Legislature. Eleven students enrolled in the first nursing class. The curriculum, which took 2 years to complete, consisted of lectures delivered by physicians and nursing “practice” in all patient care areas.
In response to the expansion of medical knowledge and the increased responsibilities of nurses, the program of study was extended to 2½ years in 1913, and then to 3 years in 1915. The school participated in the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II and its enrollment of 760 student nurses was one of the largest in the country. Refresher courses were offered to inactive nurses to help fill America’s need for nurses.
In 1989, in response to a nursing shortage in Louisiana, officials from Delgado Community College announced their intentions to start an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program. In July 1990, the nursing school was officially transferred from CHNO to Delgado and renamed Charity School of Nursing. With the graduation of the last diploma class in May 1992, a total of 6,273 graduates had received a diploma from Charity Hospital School of Nursing.
The first class in the new 2-year ADN program was admitted in January, 1991. The program was well received by the community and now graduates more than 200 students per year. Pass rates on the national nurse licensing exam continue to be at or above state and national standards. Surveys of graduates and their employers demonstrate that graduates of the school are well prepared, respected and sought after. The ADN nursing program is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, which performed a site visit in 2009 and bestowed another eight years of accreditation on the program.
Another milestone for this proud program is its recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The campus, one block from the Superdome and inundated by water and wind, welcomed fourth semester students back in November 2005 and graduated 162 students in January 2006. The program offered compressed sessions from January through July of 2006 to help students “catch up” on the semester missed. Restoring its facility and dedicating itself to continuing its education mission, the school helped redevelop the area of downtown New Orleans under the motto “Rebuilding New Orleans-One Nurse at a Time.”