Baptist Health College Little Rock is a multidisciplinary institution of higher learning that offers 10 programs of study to hundreds of students every year. Accredited by Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, the Arkansas State Board of Nursing, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and nine additional program-specific accreditations, the college is also backed by the medical expertise and stability of Baptist Health. In fact, in 2021, the college observed its 100th anniversary, a testament to its long service to the community of producing generations of health care professionals.
Yet save for the people enrolled in the academic programs, those who teach them and those who came before, Baptist Health College is arguably the quietest success story in central Arkansas, if not the entire state, a best-kept secret gem on the educational landscape. It is a fact not lost on Troy Wells, CEO of Baptist Health.
“We have, over the years, provided a lot of health care professionals, nurses and allied health care folks to the entire state of Arkansas,” Wells said. “We’ve been training nurses the entire time that Baptist Health has existed, and we’re one of the largest graduating institutions of [registered nurses] around.
“What we do is really important to the state of Arkansas, but you’re probably right — a lot of people may not be familiar with our college. Telling our story is kind of a low-key part of our operation.”
Wells, along with the school’s executive leadership, are on a mission to change all that thanks to a major renovation that will serve the students of today and help attract the health care workers of tomorrow seeking first-class, state-of-the-art educational programs. To that end, the administration is thinking big — as in $21 million big — which Wells sees as a critical investment in the college’s future.
“I would argue that we’ve got the best clinical training around, but nowadays, people are looking for certain tools and technology,” he said. “That’s something you have to have these days to be competitive and to raise the bar in terms of the training that students get while they’re in school.”
Visibility issues aside, the college’s record is a long and proud one across a number of medical disciplines, going back to its incorporation in 1921 alongside the hospital. That year produced the first five graduates of the Baptist State Hospital School of Nursing, and three years later, the initial 17 graduates of Baptist Health Schools walked the stage.
Over the next 30 years, the institution grew rapidly to include several other courses of study, including schools of radiology (1953), practical nursing (1964), medical laboratory science (1965), histotechnology (1976), nuclear medicine technology (1979) and coding technology (1985). The college’s schools of surgical technology and occupational therapy assistant would be established in 1999 and 2005, respectively, the latter being a partnership with the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock.
The school has actively sought other partnerships to help students enjoy a seamless march toward their desired degree. In 2010, the institution entered into agreements with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Pulaski Tech to offer degree completion in a variety of disciplines.
Baptist Health Schools was rebranded Baptist Health College in 2015, after gaining certification through ADHE to grant degrees. Today, the college offers academic programs in medical laboratory science, nuclear medicine technology, occupational therapy assistant, patient care technician, practical and traditional nursing, radiography, sleep technology, and surgical technology. It also offers an accelerated nursing track for licensed practical nurses and paramedics wishing to become RNs.
Roughly half of BHC graduates go on to work at Baptist Health.
Since 1989, the college has been housed in its current location at 11900 Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock in a building originally constructed as an outlet mall but never opened as such. That has given students and staff plenty of space, but as with any structure, time has necessitated updates to the building and made expanding classroom technology mandatory. The current capital fund drive and subsequent refurbishment is the first to be done to the building since Baptist Health College Little Rock moved in, making the improvements well overdue.
“It’s just time to update and modernize not just for competitive reasons but also because the needs of the students change, as do the ways that we teach and educate,” said Mike Perkins, president of Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock, Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute in Little Rock and Baptist Health College. “Some of the work that we’re doing is to really update and create a simulation and skills lab featuring high-fidelity mannequins. Those mannequins are really about as close to an actual real-life experience you can get without it being real-life patient.
Mike Perkins
“The new labs will provide simulation opportunities that are very specific to various programs. These real-life settings with real-life responses from the high-fidelity mannequins will provide some training opportunities that don’t exist today in our college.”
Investment in Baptist Health College does more than benefit the company behind it. A robust institution of its kind is also a major factor in the improvement of the health and wellness of the greater central Arkansas community. Health care workers are in short supply across the U.S., a by-product of massive numbers of retirements and burnout defections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As reported by The Hill, the shortage is a double whammy for the nation’s health care infrastructure — not only are aging baby boomers fueling the tidal wave of nursing vacancies through their retirement, but they are also fattening the number of people who are at ages that typically require more care. The publication cited U.S. Census Bureau figures that showed 56 million Americans are 65 or older, up from 40 million in 2010 and headed toward an expected peak of 77 million over the next decade.
Those unprecedented numbers are already placing undue strain on the health care field, and experts predict it will get worse before it gets better. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of almost 200,000 nurses in five years, and the number of openings for home health aides and personal health aides will increase 37 percent over the coming decade.
Such statistics not only underscore the critical importance of institutions capable of training the next waves of health care workers but of providing the kind of educational experience and career opportunities that hang onto them after graduation. A recent study by The New York Times revealed the states with the highest brain drain, defined as individuals ranked in the top one-third of education distribution living in a state other than their birth state. That study found almost half of college-educated residents in Arkansas headed for greener pastures, leaving Arkansas 44th out of the 50 states.
A better educational experience combined with being connected to a hospital and health care system potentially gives Baptist Health College a better-than-fighting chance at retaining that talent after graduation, which substantially benefits the local health care community.
“The people who come to our college are going to be, for the most part, from the area,” Perkins said. “Using nursing specifically, about 50 to 60 percent of the nurses that we graduate in a given year will come to work for Baptist. At the same time, we’re not just training people for Baptist; we’re training a good percentage of people who will go to work for other hospitals and other clinical settings across Arkansas. We see our work as something that is not just good for Baptist Health but good for the community and the state.”
Helping to fund the improvements is the Baptist Health Foundation, which has earmarked proceeds from the annual Bolo Bash fundraiser toward the Baptist Health College improvement project. Comprised of multiple events, Bolo Bash is one of the longest-running corporate fundraisers in Arkansas, now in its 35th year. Money raised helps support organizational goals and projects for the hospital and health system across a variety of needs.
“Baptist Health is Arkansas’ largest and most comprehensive not-for-profit health care organization,” said Janet Marshall, chief development officer at the foundation. “We have 12 hospitals in the system. We have a nursing home and 250 points of access statewide. Through all of that, Baptist Health Foundation is proud to be the fundraising arm for all of those institutions and all of those points of access. We just love being able to go out and talk about all the good things that Baptist Health does for Arkansans.”
Janet Marshall
Marshall said she hopes this year’s Bolo Bash activities, the largest component of which is September’s Bolo Bash Golf Tournament, will yield substantially, with proceeds being turned over directly to the refurbishment project. AY Media Group is a sponsor of this year’s golf event, which is slated for Sept. 15 and 16 at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock.
Sponsorship levels start at the $2,000 hole sponsorship and run the gamut from $3,000 to $25,000 that include one to four four-person golf teams and various levels of exposure and perks. Morning and afternoon tee times are available both days for the golf scramble, which includes a lunch buffet, prizes and more. This year also marks the debut of an all-female team division.
Bobby Gosser, president and CEO of Baldwin & Shell Construction Co., and Clay Gordon, president of Kinco Constructors, serve as co-chairs for the event. They said they were inspired to head up the golf tournament due to the quality of the event, the cause behind it and having seen Baptist Health’s impact up close.
Bobby Gosser
“We’ve had a long business relationship with Baptist for many years and just always been appreciative of them and the impact they have on our community and state, frankly, with their services,” Gordon said. “We’ve got a lot of employees in the state, and I know many of them and their families are served by Baptist. That’s something that made me want to participate [as co-chair], and hopefully, people will see this event as important, and they will want to come out and help and participate, as well.”
Clay Gordon
“It’s a two-day event on one of the nicest golf courses in the state,” Gosser said. “Chenal does such a great job of hosting, I mean, it’s just top notch. It’s not a huge lift on our part as co-chairs; my biggest lift is, as a nongolfer, to talk up support from those I reach out to. When you’re talking about the largest health care institution in the state run by really top-notch people, folks really want to get behind that.”
For more information on this year’s Bolo Bash Golf Tournament, visit baptisthealthfoundation.org/events.
Top feature image: Baptist Health CEO Troy Wells believes the training offered at Baptist Health College is important to the state. (Photos by Lori Sparkman)
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