Nomination for Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association's "2003 TECh Award"

The Boards of Trustees from Chippewa Valley, Fox Valley, Mid-State and Northeast Wisconsin Technical Colleges are jointly nominating Ministry Health Care of Milwaukee for the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association's "2003 Technical Education (TECh) Award."

We believe Ministry Health Care is highly deserving of this honor because of its demonstrated commitment to working with technical colleges to address the state's critical need for nurses and other health care workers.

1) Promotion of and Participation in the System/Colleges
Ministry Health Care provided the initiative to bring the 16 technical colleges together to discuss the health care industry's workforce issues. Meetings with the college presidents and health care administrators resulted in a statewide conference held in April 2002. John Botticelli from Ministry Health Care was a member of the three-person panel that presented at this event.

During a press conference in May 2002, Ministry Health Care focused both public and media attention on Wisconsin's severe shortage of professional nurses and other health care workers. It also awarded more than a half million dollars in monetary gifts to seven technical colleges for the expansion of their nursing programs and facilities.

2) Financial Assistance
Through Ministry Health Care of Milwaukee, Affinity Health System donated $575,000 to seven Wisconsin technical colleges in May 2002. The purpose of the donations was to help these colleges address the short- and long-term need for professional registered nurses and other health care workers.

The awards included a $75,000 gift to Chippewa Valley Technical College from Victory Medical Center in Stanley, a Ministry Health Care organization, to apply toward building the college's new Health Education Center. Fox Valley Technical College received a $100,000 donation from Affinity Health System, another Ministry Health Care member, to expand training for nurses and other health care workers. Mid-State Technical College was given a $150,000 donation to help defray the instructional costs for additional sections of its Associate Degree Nursing program. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College received a $25,000 donation for the expansion of its nursing program in Sturgeon Bay and Door County. Northcentral, Nicolet and Lakeshore Technical Colleges also received funding from Ministry Health Care.

3) Utilization of the System/Colleges
Affinity Medical Group was the second largest employer of Fox Valley Technical College's 2001-02 graduates, with 30 people hired. In addition, Affinity Health System had 2,197 employees trained through contracted services with the college in 2001-02-the single largest group of employees that Fox Valley Technical College trained via contracts.

An important partner with Mid-State Technical College for many years, Saint Joseph's Hospital staff participate on several college advisory committees, work on Mid-State's Marshfield campus as adjunct instructors and serve on program review committees. The hospital is an important clinical site for most of the college's health-related programming. Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield and Saint Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point are essential employment sources for graduates of Mid-State Technical College's health programs. In fall 2002, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College admitted 16 students into its Practical Nursing program and, in May 2003, the college saw 13 of these students graduate. Funds from Ministry Health Care were applied toward operating expenses related to increasing the nursing program's graduate capacity. In accordance with prescribed guidelines, the funds were used to attract students and support instruction. The college's Practical Nursing program will be maintained into the fall of 2003 and a new Associate Degree Nursing section will be added in order to admit eight more students this fall.

The administrator of Victory Medical Center serves on the Chippewa Valley Technical College Foundation and is a member of the Health Education Center Applied Technology Center steering committee and the college's Development Committee. Over the past three years, Victory Medical Center has hired seven Chippewa Valley Technical College graduates to work in this small rural community.

4) Advocacy
Cindy Eichmann, Victory Medical Center administrator, has advocated on behalf of Chippewa Valley Technical College and the Wisconsin Technical College System with state legislators to keep the Governor's Health Care Initiative in the 2003-05 budget. Eichmann has also led the challenge to persuade other health care providers in the Chippewa Valley Technical College district to partner in the funding of the college's Health Education Center.

The CEO of Affinity's Door County division is chairman of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College's Board of Trustees.

Six people from Affinity serve on Fox Valley Technical College's Nursing Program Advisory Committee and were successful in encouraging the Legislature to restore technical college funds for the training of health care workers in the state's 2003-05 budget.

Mid-State Technical College reports that under the direction of John Botticelli from Saint Joseph's Hospital, problem-solving meetings were regularly held with Ministry Health Care and technical college personnel to determine actual health workers' needs in concert with the capabilities of the various colleges to meet those needs. In the process of that grassroots effort, which was largely driven by Ministry Health Care, three significant outcomes emerged: a statewide "Creating Health Care Workforce Solutions" conference, the appointment by then-Gov. Scott McCallum of a special statewide committee to continue addressing the solutions to the health care worker shortage, and the dedication of Ministry Health Care's financial resources to seven technical colleges.

5) Enhancement of Community
Ministry Health Care has contributed financially to seven of the state's 16 technical colleges, enabling them to offer health care education to more students. They have hired hundreds of Wisconsin Technical College System graduates, who care for patients in many communities throughout Wisconsin.

Serving on advisory committees, providing clinical sites and their overall leadership in health care worker issues demonstrates the major impact Ministry Health Care has had on enhancing health care within the Wisconsin Technical College System and the communities they serve.