Dignity Health reopens clinical placements to Los Rios students, saving students from repeating semester
Sacramento, CA (May 7, 2020) – Dignity Health is the first health care provider in the Capital region to reopen their facilities broadly to clinical placements for community college nursing students. The move will prevent students from having to repeat a portion of their Spring term, allowing them to stay on track to complete their program.
Dignity Health’s reopening paves the way for American River College Nursing students to catch up on clinical time over the coming year and get back on track to complete their program on time. The other Nursing program in the Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento City College, also has a plan in place to ensure their students stay on target to complete their program.
At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, health care providers around the state of California understandably cancelled clinical placements for nursing students out of an abundance of caution for the students’ health and in anticipation of the impacts of a surge in COVID-19 cases on area hospitals and health care facilities. Without this essential face-to-face patient care experience, many students would not be able to progress in their program.
American River College (ARC) was able to find creative and innovate ways to allow students in their final (4th) semester to complete their remaining hours and graduate this spring. Many 1st, 2nd, and 3rd semester students, however, would not have had enough clinical hours to advance terms, and the longer clinical placements were shuddered the more students would have been impacted.
“These nursing students are our future, and we enthusiastically welcome them back to our hospital campuses with arms wide-open,” said Laurie Harting, Greater Sacramento Division President & CEO for Dignity Health. “As a nurse myself, I want to thank Chancellor King for his leadership and applaud his quick action to ensure these students had a path forward to stay on track to complete their program and to fulfill their calling to serve.”
“We could not be more grateful to Dignity Health for their leadership on this issue,” said Brian King, Chancellor of the Los Rios Community College District. “Many of our nursing students were concerned about the impact that a delay could have on them being able to complete their program and enter the workforce in the coming year(s). These students sacrificed a great deal financially and personally to get where they are, and for any delay would be devastating to many of their families. Now, thanks to Dignity Health, we can get them back on track.”
The clinical placements will resume the week of May 11 and the faculty and administration at American River College will be working with Dignity Health to ensure that students are trained on appropriate public health protocols before reentering facilities.
About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a multi-state network of 10,000 physicians, more than 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care-centers including neighborhood hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY 2019, Dignity Health provided more than $1.1 billion in patient financial assistance, unreimbursed costs of Medicaid, community health improvement services, and other community benefits. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org.
About Los Rios
The Los Rios Community College District is one of the nation’s most respected learning institutions and the second-largest community college district in California, serving the greater Sacramento region. Los Rios includes: American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College and Sacramento City College; six major education and outreach centers; and specialized workforce and economic development programs, for regional businesses, governments and organizations. Los Rios colleges offer Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADTs), AA/AS degrees, certificates and transfer-education opportunities in more than 70 career fields. The District’s 2,400 square-mile service area includes all of Sacramento County, most of El Dorado County and parts of Yolo, Placer and Solano counties. About 75,000 students are enrolled in the four Los Rios Colleges. For more information, go to www.losrios.edu.
Publish date:
Thursday, May 07, 2020