Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey visited Worcester State on Tuesday and got a firsthand look at how the university is preparing the next generation of nursing and healthcare professionals.
The visit provided the governor with a close-up look at the work happening inside Worcester State’s classrooms, as Healey toured the nursing simulation center and Speech-Language-Hearing Center, conversing with students and faculty along the way.
Following the tour, the governor shared recommendations from the Massachusetts Health Care Affordability Working Group, which included a plan to increase state funding for nursing faculty at universities across the Commonwealth.
“If we want people to get the care that they need, when they need it, we need nurses,” Healey said. “If we want to see healthcare costs go down, we need nurses.”
To start her campus visit, Healey toured the Dr. GB and Lexi Singh Simulation Center, a high-tech learning environment where nursing students train with manikins capable of realistically replicating a wide range of patient scenarios and symptoms. Some of the manikins can simulate complex situations, including seizures and childbirth, giving students the opportunity to practice responding to real-world healthcare situations in a controlled environment. Two of them were also purchased with grant funding from the state.
“I just toured one of our classrooms and saw two manikins that Worcester State was able to purchase that train nursing students in the most sophisticated ways, replicating exactly what they’re going to see in the real world,” Healey said. “And it’s state funding like that that helps us better prepare a workforce and give them the tools that they need.”
Governor Healey tours the nursing facilities with Worcester State student Justin Onyango
During the tour, Healey spoke with current nursing student Justin Onyango about how the simulation center has contributed to his education.
“I’m a visual learner,” Onyango said. “With the manikins, I get to see everything.”
Healey followed up by asking Onyango why he wanted to pursue nursing. Onyango, who is also a Presidential Student Ambassador, shared that one of his siblings and his father are nurses. The governor then shared that her own mother was a nurse.
“But this is a little different from when my mom went to nursing school,” she joked.
From the Simulation Center, Healey visited the Speech-Language-Hearing Center, where she met with faculty and students and participated in a hearing test. Operational for more than 50 years, the center is open to the public and helps people of all ages with communication needs, including difficulties with speech sound production, fluency, voice, language, cognition, social language, and hearing.
The visit gave Healey an opportunity to learn more about the center’s work serving the broader community while hearing directly from Worcester State students about their experiences preparing for careers in healthcare.
“Every day is an opportunity to take care of somebody, to make their life a little bit better. And what a wonderful, wonderful thing that is,” she said.
During the press portion of the visit, U.S. Representative Jim McGovern also highlighted the university’s role in the greater Worcester community and the importance of supporting its healthcare programs.
“Worcester State University is a leader in so many areas,” McGovern said. “And this institution is not an island in this city; indeed, this institution is a very important part of our greater Worcester community.”
McGovern said the university’s nursing program is helping create a direct pathway for students into hospitals, clinics, and communities throughout the region.
“The Dr. Lillian R. Goodman Department of Nursing at Worcester State is educating the next generation of nurses, creating a direct pathway from the classroom into our hospitals, into our clinics, and into our communities,” he said.
Also in attendance were Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Massachusetts Undersecretary of Health Amy Rosenthal, Assistant Secretary of Career Education Bob LePage, and State Senator Michael Moore, along with members of the Worcester State community.
Expanding the nursing workforce
Healey’s visit comes as Massachusetts works to expand its healthcare workforce while addressing the rising cost of care. The governor said increasing the number of nurses is an important part of making sure Massachusetts residents can access care when they need it.
“If we want people to get the care that they need when they need it, we need nurses,” Healey said. “If we want to see healthcare costs go down, we need nurses.”
A key recommendation from the Health Care Affordability Working Group is to increase funding for nursing faculty, addressing a major barrier to expanding nursing education: a shortage of qualified instructors.
Healey said Massachusetts has already invested in expanding enrollment in nursing programs, but more faculty are needed to educate the students entering the profession.
“To train nurses, you need to have nursing faculty,” Healey said. “At the end of the day, what we found is that we just don’t have enough nursing instructors.”
Worcester State’s Dr. Lillian R. Goodman Department of Nursing is well positioned to help meet that need. Founded in 1974, the program has prepared nurses for more than 50 years and graduates approximately 50 to 60 Bachelor of Science in Nursing students each year.
During the visit, Worcester State President Barry M. Maloney highlighted the program’s strong outcomes and its role in preparing a Massachusetts-based healthcare workforce. Ninety-six percent of Worcester State nursing students are Massachusetts residents, 40% identify as ALANA/BIPOC, and half are first-generation college students, he shared.
The program also achieved a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX this year, the professional licensure examination required to become a registered nurse. Maloney noted that the rate is the highest among nursing programs in the Massachusetts state university system, public higher education system, and Commonwealth.
“We are looking forward to continuing to think creatively together with [the the governor’s] team on ways that we can look to expand that work,” Maloney said.
Healey also recognized Worcester State’s efforts to expand opportunities for students pursuing nursing careers. The university recently welcomed students who were unable to complete their nursing programs at Anna Maria College and Becker College, following their respective closures, allowing them to continue their path toward becoming nurses.
“We want those students who are on nursing tracks to continue to do that work, and I really appreciate the work there and the support they’re giving to our workforce,” Healey said.
The proposed investment in nursing faculty builds on a series of state initiatives aimed at strengthening the healthcare workforce. Healey highlighted a $23 million investment to expand enrollment in nursing programs, $10 million to expand Certified Nursing Assistant and Medical Assistant training at community colleges, nearly $270 million in student loan repayment assistance for more than 6,000 healthcare workers, and more than $60 million to help businesses hire healthcare and behavioral health workers.
Worcester State’s nursing students are already gaining the skills and experience needed to serve Massachusetts communities—and, Healey said, the university will continue to play an important role in preparing the state’s future healthcare workforce.
“We’re going to continue to count on great institutions like Worcester State to keep producing incredible contributors to our healthcare workforce,” Healey said.
Photo credit: Josh Qualls, Director of Photography, Office of Governor Healey
