Ellis Grads Enter Hot Job Market

Good pay, choice markets welcome new crop of nurses
by Michael Lamendola - The Daily Gazette - 5/22/04

SCHENECTADY— Blythe E. Gieseler graduated from the Ellis Hospital School of Nursing Friday night and,  skipping summer vacation will start work Monday.  And that's just fine to her.

"This is going to be a dream job.  It's everything I wanted to do,"  said Gieseler,  26,  a 15-year resident of Schenectady and former critical are technician for Mohawk Ambulance.  Gieseler was one of 36 graduates who received a nursing pin during at the Ellis Nursing School's 99th commencement ceremony at Schenectady County Community College.

And like Gieseler,  the other nurses all have jobs waiting for them,  thanks to a nationwide shortage. They will,  on average,  earn at least $40,000 annually with a two-year degree.

Hot market
"The market's wide open,"  said Mary Lee Pollard,  school of nursing director.  "They can pick and choose where they want to go.  They were wined and dined by all different hospitals."

Gieseler will work at St. Clare's Hospital,  her first choice.  She picked St. Clare's because the hospital is letting her work in the Emergency Department "right out of school."  She often worked with the staff during her ambulance runs.  "They're a great bunch of people."

She got into nursing,  she said,  because it offers "Everything I wanted to do.  It gives me a chance to be involved in people's lives and to help them on a life-changing level."  Shannon Arnold,  31,  of Rhode Island,  also wanted to be a nurse all her life.  She used to work as an aide assisting disabled people in a group home.

"I could have gone anywhere as a nurse.  I chose Ellis for the reputation.  I plan on being a nurse until I retire, ”  she said.

School growing
Pollard said the school is addressing the nursing shortage by enrolling its largest class ever next year,  65 students,  and starting a weekend/evening program in the fall for 22 students.  Both classes had to be closed early because of the number of students seeking entry,  Pollard said.

Among the class will be 20 men,  the largest ever in the school's history,  Pollard said.  "Nursing is being viewed as a less traditional female role and is starting to be recognized as a more science-oriented field, "  she said.  In August the School moved to a new location within the Power Technology Inc. building on Erie Boulevard.  The site provides a more modern setting that allows the school to access the Internet.

The school was situated within the former Big N building,  its home since 1989.  “We’ve outgrew the former site,” Pollard said.

For the move the school is using portions of a $2 million grant it received from the John Belanger Foundation.  Belanger was on the Ellis Hospital board and was an executive vice president at General Electric.  The new building is called the Belanger Campus.  The nursing shortage is expected to get even worse,  said Marie Hutchins,  a registered nurse and Ellis Hospital’s nurse recruiter.  The current nursing workforce will soon be retiring themselves.

“We’ll need more nurses,”  she said.  “It’s an absolutely great time to be a nurse.”