Clatsop Community College nursing student Irena Goldenov learns how to insert a needle in a patient's arm from instructor Tina Kotson. The college's program was recently ranked second in the state by registerednurse.org

The Clatsop Community College Foundation has been awarded a $110,0000 grant that will be used to improve CCC’s Nursing Program’s employment and retention, the foundation announced on Thursday, June 26.

According to both Director of CCC Foundation Beth van Elswyk and Interim Director of Nursing and Allied Health of CCC Tina Kotson, the grant, which was approved by Executive Director of Oregon Center for Nursing Jana Bitton and “supported” by the Oregon Health Authority, will be used to hire a clinical assistant to reduce faculty “overload.” 

“We want this person to come in to take over some of that workload in the clinical setting, our (CCC) labs, our simulations, so that our full-time faculty, each one of them, can do a little bit less than that each term,” Kotson said.

Over a course of a year, educators are “rated, graded, and paid” based on the amount of “contact” hours they spend with students, including those in a clinical setting such as a hospital or care center. 

Because of this, Kotson said that all five full-time faculty go into “overload” hours.

“Our full-time permanent faculty members often go into ‘overload’ in the course of a year because they are working hundreds of hours more in a year than they really should,” Kotson said. “Right now they’re doing it because we believe strongly in our high-quality program.” 

Hiring an assistant will allow faculty members to spend more one-on-one time with students, van Elswyk said, which improves retention. According to van Elswyk, the grant will fund one position only for now. 

“(The grant) does help create a work-life balance for our faculty (and) improves the time that faculty can do one-on-one advisement with students,” van Elswyk said, which is really important in the Nursing Program.”

The grant takes effect Tuesday, July 1, and runs until Friday, October 27, 2028.

In collaboration with the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education, CCC’s Nursing Program offers a “competency-based” curriculum, which was created by nine Oregon community colleges and the Oregon Health and Science University.