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WKU, Glasgow Hospital August 18, 2003 The hospital, which launched a health care scholarship program in 2002, is providing a full-time employee as a clinical instructor for the nursing program at WKU-Glasgow. "As with all hospitals, TJ Samson Community Hospital is being proactive and creative in looking to the future of health care," said Sherry Tabor, the hospital's director of Community Relations. The addition of a clinical instructor will allow WKU-Glasgow's nursing program to admit 10 more students, up to 30, this fall. "TJ Samson asked for more students in our program because they need more nurses in Glasgow," said Martha Houchin, director of WKU's Associate Degree of Nursing Program. "The hospital decided to give us a full-time employee who will be an adjunct faculty member in nursing." The hospital will pay the clinical instructor's salary and benefits. The instructor will work with three or four groups of students four days a week at the hospital, she said. Nursing board regulations allow only 10 students per faculty member in the clinical area, Houchin said. The nursing program at WKU-Glasgow has three full-time and one part-time faculty, she said. In addition to addressing the shortage of health care professionals, "the clinical instructor will be an ambassador for our hospital," Tabor said. "TJ Samson's generosity is one way the community is responding to the nursing shortage and partnering with the University to provide more opportunities for our students," Houchin said. In 2002, WKU and the hospital partnered for the TJ Samson Community Hospital Scholars Program. The program, made possible through an $80,000 annual gift, funds 16 annual scholarships of $5,000 each. In exchange, the recipients agree to work at TJ Samson upon graduation.
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