Some of our nursing students are volunteering this week at the Holy Spirit Clinic in Maggoty, Jamaica, on one of our annual service trips. These trips have a big impact on our students, giving them valuable experience, inspiration and lifelong memories. Maggotty is in an area of Jamaica with extremely limited resources, and the student group offers valuable basic-care services not otherwise available there.

The Elms College School of Nursing held a white coat ceremony Thursday, Dec. 7, to honor the college’s third class of DNP (doctor of nursing practice) students as they move from the classroom into clinical practice training. The 17 honorees started the program in fall 2016 and will begin their clinical practice in January. The ceremony included opening remarks from Kathleen B. Scoble, Ed.D., RN, dean of the School of Nursing, as well as an oath, a blessing of the white coats, and the presentation of the coats to the students. The keynote speaker was Lisa Erickson DNP, ACNP-BC, director of advanced practitioners for Baystate Health System.

Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski, D.D., Bishop of Springfield, visited campus this week to dedicate the altar in our new St. Joseph Chapel ... and while he was here, he stopped by our caRe vaN! The Elms College caRe vaNis a free health clinic on wheels that serves homeless and underserved people of Chicopee. It offers free healthcare services including blood-pressure checks and monitoring, blood-sugar checks, foot care, episodic first aid, minor wound care and patient education. It also gives nursing students hands-on healthcare experience and allows them to live the Elms College mission of empowering students to effect positive changes in the community and in the world.

The School of Nursing at the College of Our Lady of the Elms and The Birchtree Center for Healthcare Transformation will present a screening of the documentary “Defining Hope” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, in Veritas Auditorium on the Elms College campus. Nurses will receive 1.25 free contact hours for watching the film and completing the evaluation thanks to the generous support of Walden University. Walden University is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Refreshments will be served from 6:30 to 7 p.m., and the screening will be held from 7 to 8:15 p.m., with a 30-minute discussion to follow. "Defining Hope," produced by Carolyn Jones Productions, weaves together the true stories of patients with life-threatening illnesses and the nurses who guide them as they make choices about how they want to live, how much medical technology they can accept, what they hope for and how that hope evolves. It is about optimism in the face of illness, and helps to define "quality of life."

The MBA, CEL and School of Nursing will host a panel discussion on healthcare innovation at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Dooley College Center dining room annex. The panelists — entrepreneurs and innovators in the business, technology, and clinical sides of healthcare — will share stories of innovating, changing, disrupting, enhancing, advancing, and problem solving in medical and healthcare settings. They will talk about their own paths to innovation: what was easy, what was challenging, and what they would tell new entrepreneurs about getting started. In addition, they will discuss how to identify needs in the field and create solutions that meet those needs. Panelists include entrepreneur Rick Crews, president of Medvest LLC, d/b/a AFC Urgent Care; healthcare innovator Grace LaValley, cardiovascular nurse at Baystate Health; technology entrepreneur Bryan Shnider, co-founder and CEO of TrueMedIT; and healthcare app designer Robert Horton, nurse manager at Baystate Health. This event is free and open to all entrepreneurs, business leaders, and people who work in the healthcare field. Refreshments will be provided. Seating is limited, and registration is requested. To register, visit www.elms.edu/innovationpanel.

Our nursing students and faculty are compassionate and caring. Well done!

Associate Professor Cheryl Sheils, Ed.D., R.N. (back row, middle), shared best practices to increase diversity in the nursing workforce with colleagues at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing retreat in late June. All colleges in attendance have received Health Resources & Services and Administration (HRSA) grants to aid in their efforts. (University of Cincinnati photo) http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/29214/

Thank you for everything you have done for the nursing program at Elms, Sister Mary. The division of nursing became the School of Nursing under your tenure. Good luck and God bless.

BusinessWest has published an article about our own Grace Lavalley '06 '11 '17, who graduated this spring with our inaugural DNP class. Grace will present a paper at the American Assoc. of Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation's 32nd annual meeting in October. More info: http://bit.ly/2sNiZDO. Her paper will also appear in the AACVPR's Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention (JCRP). This publication is the official journal of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the Canadian Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Our DNP Class of 2018 has so much school spirit, they ordered special Elms DNP fleece vests and jackets to show the world! Here's a photo of several of them modeling their new vests/jackets before class yesterday.

Lots of nurses in this photo gallery!