Every May, National Nurses Month reminds us to honor the people who show up, often in the hardest moments, for the most vulnerable among us. Nurses bring skill, compassion, and resilience that anchor the entire health care system. As leaders in higher education and rural health care, we see firsthand how much our communities depend on their care every day.
This year, we mark the occasion with more than gratitude. We are taking action.
The growing partnership between Shawnee State University and Adena Health is bringing higher education and clinical training together, creating a powerful new pathway for the next generation of nurses to learn, work, and build careers in south central and southern Ohio.
The partnership vision, announced in October 2024, brings Shawnee State’s respected nursing curriculum directly into Adena Health’s clinical environment on its Chillicothe campus, where students learn alongside experienced care teams, gaining both academic knowledge and real-world experience.
The timing could not be more critical for our region. The long-term shortage in health care professionals is real and growing, but it also represents an outstanding opportunity for Appalachian Ohioans to build stable careers without leaving the region they call home. Students in this program will complete various clinical experiences at Adena Health, learning in real patient settings alongside care teams who understand their communities’ unique health needs. That is how we build a workforce that stays.
The intersection of higher education and health care is one of the most powerful drivers of regional economic development. Businesses evaluating where to locate look closely at workforce capacity, community health, and institutional investment. When a region produces its own health care professionals, it sends a clear signal to employers and investors: this community is growing.
Our partnership is an economic development strategy as much as an educational one. Higher education and health care are also uniquely positioned to address the systemic factors behind poor health outcomes. Access to care, workforce capacity, and community investment are deeply interconnected, and programs like this help break cycles of underinvestment.
Shawnee State and Adena Health share a deep, aligned mission: to make south central and southern Ohio a better place to live and work. Together, we are committed to improving our region’s health and quality of life in ways that leverage our natural strengths. Strong local training programs lead to a more stable workforce and ensure that families have access to the high-quality care they need and deserve.
This Nurses Month, we honor those who have already answered the call, and we challenge others to think differently, and to join us in preparing the next generation to do the same.
We hope this collaboration sparks a broader conversation about the power of cross-sector partnerships to reimagine how education and real-world experience can come together to better serve students, communities, and industries alike.
Eric Andrew Braun, JD, EdD, is President of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, where he champions partnerships that connect higher education to the needs of the communities Shawnee State serves. Kathi Edrington, DNP, brings her background as a nurse to her role as President and CEO of Adena Health, a rural health system based in Chillicothe serving a nine-county region in south central and southern Ohio.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Opinion: SSU and Adena Health partnership is the future
Reporting by Eric Braun and Kathi Edrington, Special to the Gazette / Chillicothe Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
