BSA hosts first signing event for 65 graduate nurses

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Usually, high school student-athletes sign on to play for college and then even onto professional sports. BSA’s Health Care System did something similar, they signed on 65 graduate nurses in their first signing event.

On Wednesday, May 10, family and friends of future nurses came out to the hospital to celebrate and take part in the first ever BSA signing event, meant to honor and recognize the 65 graduate nurses who have accepted positions to work in a number of departments across BSA facilities.

Among the recent hires, 35 nurses are from Amarillo College, 22 from West Texas A&M, 3 from Texas Tech, and 5 others from outlying universities.

BSA’s assistant chief nursing officer, Glenda Harris, says they are thrilled to have nurses from their own community taking care of patients.

“This is a stepping stone to building up our workforce and keeping more folks here in the community, working to take good care of our patients,” says Harris.

According to BSA, they have recruited almost 50 percent of the West Texas A&M University and Amarillo College graduating classes.

Last year they hired 62 graduate students and are looking to increase every year.

BSA says this many nurses signing on is a big deal and will help with overall efficiency and speed in the hospital.

“As everyone knows, we’re in a nursing shortage and we’ve had to draw people from all parts of the country. We want folks for my own community to be here taking care of our patients and be part of our hospital,” says Harris.

Harris says obtaining a nursing degree isn’t easy, so BSA thought this was worth celebrating.

“We really think it’s important that we acknowledge these nurses and let them know not only the new grads but the journey that they’re about to partake in. It’s very important. It’s the first year, they need support as much as possible,” says Mona Tucker, Assistant Vice President of Human Resources at BSA.

“These folks started nursing school at one of the most difficult times of health care. In the midst of covid, they put their hands up and they said, ‘hey, I want to help,’” says Harris.

BSA says while this doesn’t solve the nurse shortage, it makes a huge difference.

“It does keep the nurses here that we definitely need to support our patients,” says Tucker.

“It gives us that injection of energy that we need to be able to use all of our resources to take great care of patients which is our mission and vision,” says Harris.

Tucker says there are still interviews going on throughout the week and believe by the end of the semester, they will have recruited a total of 70 graduate nurses.

BSA says positions are still open and are accepting applications.

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