Education Changes the Future

Education is a critical component of the rapidly advancing health care profession. Whether a new student is just embarking on their career or a long-tenured team member wants to gain new skills, access to education is vital to career development. For this reason, Riverside’s College of Health Careers (RCHC) is essential to our ability to serve our communities.

2022 was a post-pandemic rebuilding year for the college with enrollment back up to pre-pandemic levels and an expanded menu of offerings. The pandemic ushered in a huge demand for all healthcare professions and specifically a significant spike in the need for surgical technologists and surgical nurses. In addition, we saw significant growth in the number of nursing students pursuing advanced degrees which elevates the level of nursing expertise at the bedside for all patients.

Supporting the college

While tuition rates are kept as low as possible and have not had a significant increase since 2016, programs still cost up to $27,000 per student. Donations to the college help to offset expenses and fund scholarships, thereby keeping health care professions open as a career option for many students.

Retired Riverside neurosciences nurse Barbara Costen experienced the career-making impact of the college firsthand. She was inspired to make two gifts in memory of past Riverside School of Nursing Director, Mrs. Shirley Odell Welker. In 2022 Barbara’s gift allowed RCHC to purchase wound assessment simulation equipment. In 2023 her gift has been allocated to the replacement of a high-fidelity manikin arm at the RCHC nursing lab. This arm costs $5,000 and simulates pulses, laboratory draws, blood pressure, and can simulate seizure activity. These two pieces of training equipment will benefit all nursing students repeatedly throughout their education. The impact will last for decades.

Scholarships

Scholarships often make the difference between a student withdrawing or staying in school. With support from our generous partners, we awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships for health care heroes in 2022.

The Anne Talbot Evans Memorial Scholarship was established in 2013 by Bill and Carol Downey to honor Carol’s mother’s lifelong work and dedication to surgical services. Anne is remembered for her quick wit, thoughtful wisdom, and compassion. This annual award is presented to students enrolled in the Riverside College of Health Careers Surgical Technology program or Registered Nursing program with plans to pursue a specialty in surgical services. Surgical technologists must demonstrate a wide-reaching technical understanding of many different types of procedures. Surgical nurses have to be highly skilled multi-taskers and can choose to concentrate in one area such as obstetrics or cardiac surgery. Both perform these essential hands-on roles with a goal of functioning seamlessly with others, often serving as the backbone of the operating room team.

In 2022, Riverside Medical Group providers honored Chief Executive Officer William B. Downey’s four decades of service to Riverside as he transitioned to a new role in advance of his retirement a year later. By making gifts to the Evans Scholarship that the Downeys initially funded, they brought gratitude full circle.

2022 Evans Scholarship awardees are Kiari Wright Seward and Grace Zoeller. Kiari is an April 2022 graduate of the RCHC-Professional Nursing Program, a December 2022 graduate of the Riverside Operating Room Clinical Internship Program, a current student within the RN-to-BSN Program, and a full-time surgical nurse at Riverside Regional Medical Center (RRMC). Grace will graduate from the Surgical Technology program in 2023 with plans to work at RRMC.

In 2022 Peninsula Radiological Associates established the Burcher

Clinical Scholarship Award in honor of long-time Riverside Imaging System Director and RCHC graduate, Paula Burcher. This scholarship supports Radiologic Technology students who are interested in working at Riverside upon graduation and who display exceptional clinical skills. Four students were selected for this award of $2,500 each – Jasmine Sublett, Angela Johnson, Cristin Cade, and Allison Barham. These students will graduate in 2023 with plans to work at Riverside facilities on the Peninsula and in Williamsburg.

Backing success

• In 2022, the college graduated 198 students among its 8 programs.

• Impressively, the college’s track record of credentialling pass rates ranges from 84 – 100% (depending on program of study), proof positive that the students are well-prepared by their program to pass the rigorous credentialling exams required to become licensed in their field.

• Job placement rates for graduates from 2021 range from 70 –100%, depending on program. Looking to make a similar impact? Your contribution in any amount can give aspiring health care professionals an opportunity to act on their passion and expand their knowledge. Riverside will use your contribution to enhance training programs and technologies or to create additional scholarship award opportunities. To learn how you can make a difference for the next generation of health care providers, please call us at 757-234-8740.

Donors Who Inspire Us

Paying it forward

Drs. Ray and Ann Woodlief were married for 61 years until his passing in January 2022. Ray served both his country and his community as a Navy veteran and a Veterans Affairs radiologist, but his greatest loves were his wife, Ann, their two girls, and eventually five grandchildren. When Ray became seriously ill, Ann’s greatest wish was to keep him comfortable at their home in Gloucester. Hospice made this possible. Ann said the caregivers were easy to get in touch with and she felt as though she had a team, a safety net, to help her through everything. Ray and Ann were able to spend their last months together watching the wildlife outside of their porch while putting together jigsaw puzzles.

“Home hospice care was a great blessing as we traveled that last road together. The knowledge, care and warmth of our hospice caregivers sustained us,” said Ann. “We were fully covered by insurance, but so many people are not. I was happy to be able to make a contribution in Ray’s memory so that other patients may take advantage of hospice’s services and make their final journeys easier.”

Supporting loving care and dignity

The loss of a child is every parent’s worst nightmare regardless of the child’s age. Roxy and Viki Gwynn lived this tragedy when they lost their son, Rob, who died of neurofibromatosis (NF)-related cancer at the age of 37 last January. Rob’s NF made dayto-day life difficult, but he focused on helping others despite his challenges. He became a Licensed Practical Nurse and used his special skill set working for a home for disabled children and a nursing home. Even at the end, Rob wanted to help others by donating his body and genetic information for medical education and research on neurofibromatosis.

“Our hospice team provided personal, gentle, loving care with dignity. They always knew what each of us needed, at just the right time, even before we knew we needed it,” said Roxy Gwynn, Rob’s father. “We wanted to show our gratitude and honor his life by helping others, as he did, and supporting hospice services was a natural fit to honor Rob’s memory.”

Protecting our tiniest patients

The Winding Road Foundation made a gift to improve the care for vulnerable premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Riverside Regional Medical Center. The purchase of two new constant carbon dioxide monitors is making a difference by reducing the number of blood draws the babies must undergo while improving the monitoring of the babies’ levels when consistency is crucial for survival. When the company selling the monitors heard that donations were making the purchase possible, they provided a discount that allowed us to purchase three monitors.

Traditionally, levels are monitored through periodic blood draws, but with the new monitors placed directly on the skin, the care team has continuous and instant results to know if a treatment needs to be modified even before outward symptoms of decline are apparent. Especially fragile preemies benefit from continuous monitoring, early intervention, the avoidance of an invasive blood draw and the bruising and blood loss that sometimes come with needle sticks.

12 Average number of babies Riverside’s NICU treats per day.

369 Total number of babies served by Riverside’s NICU in 2022.

4,628

In 2021, the number of patientdays that babies in Riverside's care spent in the NICU.

New monitors will prevent frequent heel sticks in NICU newborns.