U.S. university offering nursing program at new N.B. campus

A new nursing program launched at a hospital in Sackville, N.B., on Monday.

Classes began a few months ago, but Monday was the grand opening of a new nursing program at the Sackville Memorial Hospital in Sackville, N.B.

Beal University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was officially launched inside the Sackville health-care centre.

Located in Bangor, Maine, the private university has opened a Canadian campus and is offering a nursing program that can be completed in 30 months with a hybrid of online and on-site studies.

Up to 200 students can be accommodated at the facility.

Health Minister John Dornan said the province has experienced significant staffing issues at its hospitals and health-care centres, leading to delays and backlogs.

“This is a huge journey forward in an innovative, educational model. Online, onsite and in rural New Brunswick. Sackville is a good example of a community that needs our nursing help and guess what, we’re training people here,” said Dornan.

Beal University President Sheryl DeWalt said the idea of bringing a Beal campus to Canada started getting traction back in 2019.

“It began primarily because we had Canadian citizens, residents, crossing the border to Beal University in Maine and enrolling in our school there. Primarily in our nursing program,” said DeWalt.

DeWalt said Beal was approached by the provincial government and asked if they would consider opening a Canadian campus to try and keep home-grown nurses from leaving the country to find work.

“As opposed to crossing the border and then getting jobs in the United States. [That] doesn’t solve the critical shortage here,” said DeWalt.

A 10,000 square-foot section of the Sackville Memorial Hospital was renovated over a two-year period to make room for the new campus.

Margaret Melanson, president and CEO of Horizon Health, said the hospital wing primarily contained office administration.

“Over the years, the number of in-patient beds at this facility had decreased, so we certainly were not impacting patients to allow this space to be available,” said Melanson. “We feel it’s a win-win.”

During the ceremony, Melanson talked about the critical nursing shortage in New Brunswick and said the health network has recruited 467 registered nurses since April of last year.

“That’s a net gain of 204 nurses,” said Melanson.

Melanson noted that recruiting health-care professionals to the province is tough because there’s global competition for their services.

The critical shortage of staff is keeping the emergency department at the Sackville Memorial Hospital from operating 24-hours a day.

It currently operates Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Former Sackville Mayor John Highman is a member of the Rural Health Action Group which works with Horizon to come up with strategies to promote both the community and the hospital to potential health-care recruits.

“We hope that people who live here and learn that they want to work here later. So that will be very helpful for us locally, but it’s better that the province is creating more nurses I think more than anything else,” said Highman.

Highman said the shortage of physicians and nurses will likely be an ongoing issue

“We probably need more facilities like this that can produce the medical professionals,” said Highman.

Classes officially began in late October and some students who transferred from other institutions are expected to graduate in August of this year.

Beal University Canada is an extension of its sister university in Bangor which dates back to 1891 and specializes in nursing and health care.

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