A new nursing dormitory has been opened in Clive Irvine College of Nursing, Chogoria Tharaka Nithi County with the aim of expanding the nursing school’s capacity and help fill the critical shortage of nurses in Kenya.
The project is phase two of the school’s plans to expand student capacity from 200 to 500 and upgrade the school’s facilities which are currently in the old hospital built in 1922. The master plan calls for a new library and skills laboratory and more classrooms. The renovations and expansion will help provide the education Kenyans need to acquire Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees.
The project’s funding came from USAID’s Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (USAID/ASHA) and the American people while Engineering Ministries International was pivotal in its role in providing the plans for the new dormitory.
Nursing gap
The dormitory will house 60 additional nursing students within the college grounds. The dormitory will house 60 additional nursing students within the college grounds. This is advantageous to the students as they can access the clinical areas for practice after attending class in the evenings.
MBF’s donors also provided scholarship assistance for 24 of the nursing students at Chogoria this year and have helped almost 90 students graduate over the past five years. These are students who would otherwise not be able to achieve their dreams of becoming nurses. With the new facility, the school will help boost and fill the nursing gap in the country where there are only 1.2 nurses per 1,000 people, compared to 14.5 in the USA.
“The Clive Irvine Nursing School has a long history of equipping nurses to serve patients throughout Kenya. We are committed to expand and upgrade the school to graduate more nurses who are even better prepared to provide quality healthcare,” said Catherine G. Munene, CEO of PCEA Chogoria Hospital.
The school and the hospital are Christian faith-based organizations. The hospital currently has 295 beds and treats 120,000 patients annually, serving a catchment population of over 2.8 million people. The mission hospital and nursing school in Chogoria provide essential healthcare services for adults and children in the area.
