FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 22, 2007

Contact:    Michele Egan, 216-255-3610

NEONI Provides Nursing Students with a

BluePrint for Success

Nursing school is demanding.  That’s why the Northeast Ohio Nursing Initiative (NEONI) is launching a new resource aimed at supporting nursing students as they make their way through the education process and out into the professional world.  Called BluePrint for Success, it is a Web-based collection of tools and information developed especially for nursing students with the input of students, educators and professional nurses.

ê      Looking for information on licensure applications?

ê      Need help with dosage calculations?

ê      Searching for a review class for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX)?

ê      Trying to figure out your options as a nursing professional?

BluePrint for Success can help with these questions, as well as provide a wide variety of additional information and resources.  BluePrint is accessible through the NEONI Web site at www.NEONI.org.

“As a nurse, I know from experience that nursing school is challenging,” says Pam Waite, RN,C., MHSA, Healthcare Workforce Director at The Center for Health Affairs.  “For this reason, we knew it would be of value to students to provide a centralized place where they can locate a broad variety of important information.  Our goal is to remove potential barriers to the completion of their education, and assist them in achieving academic success.”

BluePrint is the latest strategy developed by NEONI to grow the nursing workforce in Northeast Ohio. For five years, NEONI has coordinated the Career Shadowing Program, which has enabled high school students to spend time shadowing a nurse in a Northeast Ohio hospital in order to experience the profession first hand.  Recently, allied health professions also experiencing workforce shortages have been added to the program, enabling students opportunities to shadow pharmacists, radiologic technologists, medical technologists, respiratory therapists and physical therapists. 

Also available through NEONI, and accessible through the BluePrint Web resource, is the Nursing Student Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which makes monetary assistance available to eligible candidates who need assistance with child care, transportation, housing, food, medical/dental care or professional licensing fees.  The program is aimed at helping nursing students overcome obstacles to completing their education.  NEONI is also developing a series of tools to improve the efficiency of the nursing clinical education placement and orientation processes.

The Northeast Ohio Nursing Initiative (NEONI) is a coalition of more than 145 members from 52 health care organizations dedicated to creating and sustaining a strong professional health care workforce in Northeast Ohio. NEONI is a program of The Center for Health Affairs, a hospital trade association representing 35 hospitals in Northeast Ohio and serving those organizations and others through a variety of advocacy and business management services. To learn more about NEONI, visit www.neoni.org.