PROVIDENCE – The Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard spent the better part of his Thursday afternoon walking around Providence College’s new Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences building wide-eyed, excited to see his four-year vision that was literally built from the ground up become reality. Moreover, Sicard, PC’s president, and fellow officials at the
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A VIRTUAL CADAVER LABORATORY is among the many state-of-the-art settings inside Providence College's new Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. / PBN PHOTO / JAMES BESSETTE[/caption]
Sicard said he wanted to create the 
A LARGE GATHERING and study space is in the center of Providence College's new Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. / PBN PHOTO / JAMES BESSETTE[/caption]
“We’ve heard from some of our existing students who wanted to come to PC, wanted to be in nursing and health sciences and knew we didn’t have it,” McInnis said. “I remember some of the stories where I asked, ‘how did you get here?’ They said [their families] told them ‘did you hear the news? PC just got nursing and health sciences.’ They would literally go into hysterics because it all came together for them, and now they’re actually here.”
The interest in PC’s nursing and health sciences program has become significant. McInnis and Sicard said the college has received approximately 1,600 total program applications from prospective students for the 150 open spots for next year’s class.
PC is also, through the nursing and health sciences program, looking for ways to incentivize program graduates to remain working in Rhode Island’s health care sector for a few years as a way to carve its niche in local health care education. McInnis said PC is close to reaching agreements with a few area hospitals, including Women & Infants Hospital, to have the college’s health science and nursing students be recruited health organizations for multiyear commitments to stay on after graduation, with an incentive toward some measure of tuition reimbursement.
[caption id="attachment_485163" align="alignright" width="446"]
REPLICA HOSPITAL ROOMS, complete with mannequin patients, are part of Providence College's new Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences to train current health students. / PBN PHOTO / JAMES BESSETTE[/caption]
Local health organizations will also get immediate help from PC from its new school.
Students will be integrated into local hospitals and other health care settings, such as Rhode Island Free Clinic allowing freshmen to gain early hands-on experience, McInnis said, as well as meet nurses and administrators in the field. PC, through this new school, launched a “summer nursing academy” last year where McInnis says students get a paid summer local health care job.
“They add to the workforce and take away some of the burden,” McInnis said. “They’re setting the groundwork to become future employees at those hospitals when they graduate. When we met with folks at Brown University Health … they said ‘we need help now.’ We’re already having an impact and it’s going to continue to grow.”
McInnis said PC is also putting emphasis on multilingual learning and understanding to create a “culturally knowledgeable” student to address health needs in all communities. Sicard also said PC will establish a medical ethics center in the Mondor Center, as well.
“Our mantra is we’re training healers, not just technicians,” Sicard said.
(CLARIFICATION: Providence College is close to reaching agreements with a few area hospitals, including Women & Infants Hospital, to have the college’s health science and nursing students be recruited health organizations for multiyear commitments to stay on after graduation, with an incentive toward some measure of tuition reimbursement. An earlier version noted a pending agreement with only Women & Infants and there would opportunities for free tuition.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at