CHI St. Joseph Health to be new satellite site of nursing school

In the foreground of the CHI St. Joseph Health campus in Lexington is the office park where the Lincoln Memorial University nursing-education program is set to begin this fall. St. Joseph Hospital is in the right background. Far beyond it is the University of Kentucky hospital. (Photo by Mark Mahan)

By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern

Lincoln Memorial University of Harrogate, Tenn., near Kentucky's southeastern corner, will launch a nursing-education site with CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington later in 2024, the private school said Wednesday.

Students will be able to enroll for the fall 2024 semester at the new Caylor School of Nursing campus, LMU said in a statement.

The school, including classrooms, simulation rooms and laboratories, will go into a renovated office space in the Saint Joseph Office Park across Harrodsburg Road from the hospital, according to the university. Students will get their clinical experience through CHI Saint Joseph and other partners.

“Recognizing the severe shortage of nurses that continues to plague Kentucky, we were pleased to work with Lincoln Memorial University to bring more nursing education opportunities to Central Kentucky,” CHI executive Anthony A. Houston said in a statement. (CHI stands for Catholic Health Initiatives.)

Kentucky has an “acute shortage” of healthcare workers, Kentucky Health News reported in November. The state’s well-documented nursing shortage was only exacerbated by Covid-19 burnout and an aging worker population, the Lantern has reported. Additionally, shutdowns and restrictions stunted the normal education trajectory for Kentucky’s next generation of nurses during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, multiple initiatives hope to fix the issue.

Students pursuing an bachelor of science in nursing degree from Lincoln Memorial can get it in an accelerated 16-month path. Otherwise, the program is 122 credit hours.

LMU's nursing school already has a site in Corbin, 50 miles from Harorgate. For information, email Ethan Fultz, coordinator of the Lexington site and nursing recruitment, at Ethan.Fultz@LMUnet.edu.