Friends of Nursing Organization

Dear Nursing Students,

Welcome to the Fall 2012 school semester! We are here to make sure that you have the tools and support needed for a successful academic career.
The School of Nursing knows how important family is to our students and we want to keep them involved as you achieve your educational and career goals at UHV. In order to accomplish this, the Friends of Nursing was formed.
Please forward this blog to your family members and friends. We are depending on you to get this information sent to them so they can respond back to us!

As a Friend of a University of Houston - Victoria nursing student, you are automatically a member of the Organization. While there are no dues, your support and participation are encouraged and appreciated. The purpose of the Friends of Nursing is to enhance the quality of life for our students while studying for their career in nursing. The following program has been organized to help students and to encourage involvement from friends and family.

Care packages and meals were provided during final exam week in the spring semester. We had ice cream socials this summer to helped to cool us down and enjoy some fun! We will plan another event for the fall semester! Friends can donate and volunteer to help during spring, summer and fall semesters. Events not only benefit tired, hungry students, but allow parents/friends to meet one another as well as their student's friends. If you are interested in helping please email: friendsofnursing@uhv.edu
We would also like to start:

1. The Emergency Loan Fund to provide 90-day, interest-free loans up to $500 for the medical nursing students who find themselves stretched by unexpected expenses.
2. The Friends of Nursing Scholarship Fund to provide need-based scholarships each year for incoming nursing students.
Being involved in the Friends of Nursing is a wonderful opportunity to meet the faculty, staff, parents and students and to learn about the University of Houston - Victoria. We look forward to your involvement in a great organization! We welcome you to the new fall 2012 semester!

Sincerely yours,

Kathryn Tart, EdD, RN

Founding Dean and Professor

School of Nursing

UH Victoria: 361-570-4373

UH Sugar Land: 281-275-3060

UH System Cinco Ranch: 832-842-2803

Hands of Caring Ceremony

At the beginning of the Spring semester we have the Hands of Caring Ceremony for our incoming Second Degree BSN students and their families and significant others.

The ceremony opens with a welcome to the family and friends. They have a chance to tour the Nursing Simulation Center, meet faculty and hear about how the concept of "caring" is integrated into the curriculum, technology and research at UHV's School of Nursing.

The goal of the ceremony is to welcome the new students into the nursing profession. Each student is pinned by a faculty member with a lapel pin depicting hands. These pins can be worn on the students' uniforms, always reminding them of the importance of their caring hands and the patients for whom they will care.

Great News from 2011

Ribbon Cutting of the MG and Lillie A. Johnson Patient Care Simulation Center

November 10th the Victoria Chamber of Commerce hosted the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for the MG and Lillie A. Johnson Patient Care Simulation Center!

It was a wonderful event! In attendance were community supporters, the Trustees from the Johnson Foundation, faculty, staff and students! Here is an email I received regarding the impact that the School of Nursing is making! Permission was given to share these thoughts.....

Kathryn:

On behalf of the Johnson Foundation, thank you for the tour of your new digs and for the very unnecessary gifts to the trustees. I would have been perfectly happy with the cookies.

I want to repeat what I mentioned to you last night at the dinner. One
of your students, the one with the young child on her hip, impressed me with her sincere, and frequent, expressions of appreciation for her scholarship funds. As trustees, we rarely have the opportunity to experience first hand, up close and personal, the impact of our decisions, especially as it relates to students. I saw that yesterday.
Polite thank you notes are certainly welcomed but yesterday I was profoundly moved by that young lady.

Your program and your students will continue to go far. We look forward to participating as best as we can in that journey.

Feel free to share this message with your students and faculty.


Jack

Dear Jack,

On behalf of the School of Nursing, the faculty, staff and students, our sincere thanks for the support given to us from the MG and Lillie A Johnson Foundation and board of trustees.

We are passionate about our work and our profession. Your support allows us to fulfill our vision of innovative nursing excellence...meeting dreams in your community!!

Sincerely,

Kathryn Tart
Kathryn Tart, EdD, RN
Founding Dean and Professor
School of Nursing

Our Silver Winner!!!

Congratulations to Dr. Ginger Blomstrom!

She received the Good Samaritan Foundation Silver Award for excellence in Teaching. Her husband, granddaugher, and nursing faculty colleagues joined her at the Hilton Americas Hotel for the event on September 15th!

Dr. Blomstrom received the award from 125 nominees! The UHV School of Nursing at Sugar Land is honored to have such a wonderful faculty member!

Welcome to the Fall 2011 semester!

Welcome to each of you to a new school year! I am looking forward to the opportunities we have in store for the School of Nursing! I am in awe of the accomplishments we have seen and the vision we have for the future. Our school has grown by 205% over the last four years!

The Future of Nursing Report that came out in October of 2010 gave 8 recommendations that will help guide our profession for the next decade.

Recommendation #4 is to: Increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalarueate degree to 80 percent by 2020. The School of Nursing's RN-BSN program now has seamless articulation agreements with Lone Star Community College System, Wharton County Junior College and The Victoria College. www.uhv.edu/nursing (click RN to BSN program). The ADN graduates from these programs can attend our UH System Cinco Ranch, UH System Sugar Land and UH Victoria campuses respectively.

If you want to know more about the report you can view it on-line at: www.iom.edu/reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx It's our profession!!!

UHV Spring Nursing Forum to bring experts to address health care changes

Please click the link below to find out about the upcoming UHV Spring Nursing Forum in Victoria. Hope students and nurses come and find out about how the Institute of Medicine report and the Affordable Care Act will impact nursing's future! What a great way to start National Nurses Week!!

http://www.uhv.edu/car/newswire/release.asp?id=1121