Rural Nursing Education Consortium receives prestigious national award
When the original signatories of the Rural Nursing Education Consortium (RNEC) met at Amarillo College on Feb. 26, 2019, the document they inked that day articulated an ambitious goal: to establish a pipeline of homegrown nurses that would meet staffing needs of the Consortium’s hospitals in the Texas Panhandle.
In just over five years since then, with approximately 100 homegrown graduates to its credit already, RNEC has not only exceeded the expectations of even its most optimistic architects, but it has additionally achieved national acclaim.
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has named RNEC the 2024 winner of its Outstanding Rural Health Program award, a significant laurel that spotlights exceptional commitment to advancing healthcare accessibility and education within rural communities.
The prestigious accolade will be presented on Thursday, May 9 at NRHA’s 47th Annual Rural Health Conference in New Orleans.
“This is an incredible and gratifying honor,” said Dr. Tamara Clunis, AC’s vice president of academic affairs. “It certainly reinforces the commitment of all the RNEC partners who have stepped up to establish a proactive solution to a very real rural nursing shortage.”
RNEC is comprised of higher education partners Amarillo College, Frank Phillips College and West Texas A&M University, alongside five steadfast rural hospitals – Dallam County Hospital District, Golden Plains Hospital, Hereford Regional Medical Center, Moore County Hospital District, and Ochiltree General Hospital.
RNEC was conceived to support the delivery of expanded nursing education opportunities, uniquely delivered via face-to-face and distance learning technology, throughout the colleges’ service areas, with participating hospitals providing classrooms and serving as clinical sites.
Amarillo College delivers its Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) curriculum — an avenue to becoming a registered nurse (RN) — at each participating Hospital District, while Frank Phillips College similarly extends its reach to deliver the Vocational Nursing (LVN) Program to students who choose that pathway. Graduates wishing to pursue baccalaureate nursing degrees can do so at West Texas A&M.
Counting this May’s graduates, Amarillo College has produced a total of 67 RNs through RNEC thus far, while many more have achieved LVN success with Frank Phillips.
Clunis says the vast majority of RNEC graduates have accepted jobs in their local communities, which supported and produced them, thus helping to alleviate healthcare disparities in the Texas Panhandle, just as the Consortium intended.