By Qaadir Wicks
CCC Journalism Program
CAMDEN – Our Lady of Lourdes Nursing Program, partnered with Camden County College, will hold an open house for prospective nursing students on Nov. 8.
Mary Beth Sauter, coordinator of enrollment services at Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing, will host the open house event. “Our open house will not only inform students of our program, but it will also get the students involved and ask questions,” said Sauter, who has been working with the nursing program for 10 years.
Nurses have been in high demand, said Zaida Nogue, veteran services adviser at Camden County College. “There was a big shortage of nurses in the ’90s because most hospitals decided to take nurses that had a bachelor’s degree instead of an associate’s,” said Nogue.
Camden County College, Our Lady of Lourdes and W. Cary Edwards School of Nursing teamed up to create an admissions program that enables students to compete a bachelor of science in nursing degree in four years. This program is known as the “Finish in Four” and will be touched upon at the open house, along with the cohorts of Camden County College and Our Lady of Lourdes. The public-private collaboration will allow eligible students enrolled in the nursing cooperative program to complete a nursing diploma and an associate in science degree.
Open house attendees will hear the criteria for getting into the program. Prospective students will get a criminal history background check and must prove they have an approved U.S. high school diploma or GED diploma. They must have a minimum overall grade point average of 2.8 and have passed the Camden County College placement test. Prospective students who aren’t from the United States would have to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based test to meet the nursing program requirements. All prospective students will be required to take the online Test of Essential Academic Skills V and must pass with a grade of at least 60 percent to meet the nursing program requirements.
A tour of the school will take place at the end of the open house.
The open house will start at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, 1600 Haddon Ave., Pavilion 5, Camden. Admission is free and registration is not required. Prospective students should come through the main entrance and walk to the visitors’ reception area, where they’ll be informed of the location of the event. For more information, visit lourdesnet.org or call Sauter at 856-757-3726.