Sharon (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care, will close a 125-year-old nursing school after the current class of students graduates next May, according to a news release sent to local news outlets.
The hospital's school of nursing opened in 1899 and graduated 25 students per year on average. Through partnerships with Penn State Shenango and Thiel College, students took nursing courses through the hospital-based diploma nursing program, and college level academic courses at one of the colleges.
"Due to complications from the Steward Health Care Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing, the Sharon Regional Medical Center School of Nursing will not be starting January 2025 classes," Steward said in an Aug. 7 news release. "The School of Nursing has taken great pride in preparing nursing students to practice as registered nurses in partnership with both Penn State Shenango and Thiel College. We value this collaboration and know how important it is to provide this valuable training and hands-on experience to our future RNs," the statement said, adding the current focus is completing the education of the current class.
To fill in the gap, Meadville (Pa.) Medical Center is working to establish its own school of nursing. The hospital is in the early stages of the process and must obtain licensure by the state board of nursing before promoting the school or accepting students, it said in an Aug. 2 news release. Nursing leaders at Meadville Medical Center and Sharon Regional are working together to establish the new program.
"Our interest in establishing a School of Nursing is to help current and future students as well preserve a pipeline for local healthcare agencies to have options for new Registered Nurses," said Valerie Waid, BSN, chief nurse executive at Meadville Medical Center. "There is still much work to be done but we are looking forward to whenever we can enroll our first students."
News of the nursing program's closure comes as Steward looks to sell off all of its hospitals and physician group, Stewardship Health. The health system recently shared plans to lay off more than 1,200 employees as it looks to close two Massachusetts hospitals by the end of the month. The decision to close Boston-based Carney Hospital and Ayer-based Nashoba Valley Medical Center came after Steward received no actionable bids for the facilities, a Steward representative previously said.