Amid a nursing shortage, Albany County is supporting the creation of a new health clinic.
County Executive Dan McCoy says $150,000 is available through the county and the Innovation Partnership, a collaboration between the county and MVP Health Care.
It will support Maria College’s creation of a Community Clinic at Albany Medical Center Hospital’s Emergency Room, meant to help train healthcare professionals and reduce ER demand.
If current trends continue, the state Department of Health projects New York will be short nearly 40,000 nurses by 2030. The funding will be used as seed money to set up the clinic. McCoy hopes it will open within a few months.
The Democrat says he’s seen the need for community services up close and personal.
“I was just at the ER last Thursday, went in and with my daughter, and I gotta tell you, I left at 9 o'clock the morning because I said to my wife, I go, ‘I gotta come home and shower, because I gotta go to this press conference.’ We waited all night long- and then there was another time we were there, and I find we finally left at 3 in the morning after like, 15 hours of waiting,” McCoy said.
College President Dr. Lynn Ortale says her institution, based in Albany, is well-positioned to serve the community.
“They'll be going to be able to come in as they would any hospital, to be able to be served by our students and our faculty, and for us, we're starting with nursing, but there are many more needs for the community which Maria College has the resources to meet,” Ortale said.
College Director of Nursing Dr. Jessica McNally agrees.
“Maria nurses will gain hands on experience in pediatrics, occupational therapy and public health as we grow our services at the clinic even more. Working in a busy hospital environment and learning how to serve the whole individual will benefit both our nurses and the residents of the Capital Region for years to come,” McNally said.
McCoy, a Democrat, says he sees strong potential in Maria’s program.
“If this model works, we will be expanding it to other hospitals in Albany County, obviously, it's going to be at the actual hospital, and they're going to have a room next to the ER eventually, it's going to take time they got to get up. They're going to have training there. They'll be using their ERs to train their next generation of nurses,” McCoy said.
