State Senator Mike McGuire and College of the Redwoods Del Norte Campus hosted a press conference on Saturday, Feb. 22, to celebrate the growing nursing educational opportunities in the north coast, particularly the CR Del Norte’s four-week-old Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) to Registered Nurse (RN) program. “It’s truly a milestone moment for all of us here on the north coast,” Sen. McGuire said at the conference. “Our region has some of the most severe shortages of nurses in the entire state of California. This severe shortage impacts the health and well-being of thousands of patients every year. And it significantly increases the cost with the delivery of healthcare.”The 10 members of the first cohort, adorned in their maroon scrubs, stood in front of the CR Del Norte’s crowded room of politicians, city council members, county supervisors and residents, as McGuire opened the event.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');“Our philosophy has been simple, and it’s this: we need to keep quality health care close to home and that means we need to grow our own nurses,” McGuire said to the crowd.After over a decade of requests, CR Del Norte is finally able to offer an RN program to students who have completed LVN or paramedic degrees (PMED). “It’s awesome. I can still work at the job I have now, and I only have to commute a half hour to come here, versus like even the one just in Eureka I’d have to drive down there twice a week to go to class. So this is very good,” said Derek Wood, one of the cohort students who currently works as a paramedic.However, this program did not come about without the numerous partnerships in the community, surrounding counties and state.“We need to acknowledge the fact that we wouldn’t be standing up here today, we wouldn't be having this celebration without the greater Del Norte community. The Del Norte community has had this vision for over a decade now by the way, and numerous neighbors have been influential in getting this to this critical point,” Sen. McGuire said in his speech. Humboldt State University President Tom Jackson also attended and spoke at the event regarding the Bachelor of Science degree in nursing that HSU will be offering in the fall. “My dream and my hope is that every student, both nursing student and any student that graduates from CR, will go on to HSU,” said College of the Redwoods President Keith Flamer. “So thank you, Dr. Jackson, for having a BSN program available for every one of my graduates.”One of the key purposes of the event was to offer thanks to the partners involved in pursuing the program, including Del Norte County supervisors, Crescent City council members, Sutter Coast Hospital and HSU.“Thank you to the whole Del Norte Community for being so tenacious to keep letting CR and HSU know how important this is. I’ve been here for 13 years and I've heard your calls for some other healthcare facilities and some other health care needs in this county, and I’m very proud that we were able to answer that call today,” Flamer said. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });