Grant addresses shortage of health-care workers
Brookdale and partners get $1.3M in funding to provide training
BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN - The health-care industry in Monmouth County will receive a boost thanks to a grant to Brookdale Community College.

Brookdale was awarded more than $1.3 million in grant funding to address the critical shortage of health-care workers.

The community college is the lead agency working in collaboration with five key partners over a three-year grant period.

Brookdale will partner with Meridian Health Systems, the Monmouth County Workforce Investment Board and One Stop Career Centers, Presbyterian Homes and Services, Monmouth County Vocational School District and Rutgers University.

The purpose of the joint project is to increase institutional capacity by providing training in local, high-growth, high-demand industries such as nursing andmedical laboratory technology.

Key components of the grant include the development of an online nursing program, development of a Medical Laboratory Training (MLT) program, and expansion of Brookdale's certified nurse's aide program.

An online nursing program will foster the ability of the college to increase nursing enrollment without adding classrooms and laboratories at the institution, providing an alternative approach to traditional face-toface instruction, according to a press release from Brookdale.

Currently there are 505 students enrolled in Brookdale's nursing program.

According toMaris Lown, director of the Health Sciences Program, the grant will be used to develop an online nursing program and a medical laboratory technician (MLT) program.

"Meridian Health is partnering with us for both programs and the MLT program will be developed in conjunction with Meridian Health," Lown said. "We will be able to hire a project director, a faculty member, amedia specialist and a half-time counselor. There will be money for a small nursing laboratory and a small MLT laboratory in a Meridian hospital as well as a laboratory coordinator position for this lab."

In addition, a nurse's aide laboratory will be outfitted at theNorthernMonmouth Education Center and a part-time instructor for nursing aide courses funded.

Limited laboratory space, state prescribed faculty-student ratios and financial constraints have served as barriers to the expansion of the nursing and allied health programs.

The current wait for interested students to enter the nursing program is one-and-ahalf to two years.

The online program, along with partner contributions of faculty, practice laboratory space and clinical experiences, will allow for an additional 100 students to enter nursing program.

The nurse's aide program will add more than 120 students and the new MLT program will enroll about 70 students.

"Advances in technology allow us to provide student access to affordable, quality programs and support services in amanner that is neither place-bound nor timebound," Lown said. "Caring for our community proposes online delivery of a pre-licensure nursing program, which will provide a substantive number of students prepared with the skills needed to help reduce workforce shortages locally, regionally and statewide."

According to the N.J. Department of Labor andWorkforce Development, the demand for registered nurses in Monmouth County is projected to exceed supply by at least 1,300 by the year 2014.

New Jersey's projected need will be more than 20,000, an increase of 26 percent over the next seven years.

Demand for nurse's aides will follow suit, exceeding supply by 600.

Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLT) will retire in alarming numbers over the next 10 years, creating a projected need of 36 percentmore than the supply. Currently, there are no MLT training programs in Monmouth or neighboring counties.

This was the second time that Brookdale applied for the grant.

"We found out about the grant through our grants coordinator, Laura Qaissaunee," Lown said. "We applied in fall of 2006 and fall of 2007. The fall 2007 application was funded."

According to the public information office, the funding will allow Brookdale to be more responsive to the workforce needs of the county.

Decreased county and state funding, budgetary restrictions on hiring new faculty and an increased demand on college facilities as a result of growth have made it difficult to expand the health science programs, according to a press release.

The grant is structured so that all components will be included in future planning and will be sustained beyond the three-year grant-funded period.

The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $125 million in total, and Brookdale is one of 69 community colleges and communitybased institutions in the nation to receive an award.