Ivy Tech nursing program, racing to meet demand, gets $2M boost from NCHS

Plus, a look at where candidates stand in crowded GOP primary for the Indiana Senate 23 seat.

Today’s edition of the Based in Lafayette reporting project is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Lafayette and Vote411.org. For more about Vote411.org and its collection of local candidate profiles and interviews ahead of the May 3 primary, scroll through today’s edition.

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

$2 MILLION GRANT WILL HELP EXPAND IVY TECH NURSING PROGRAM AS DEMAND GROWS

Sandy Fights, dean of the School of Nursing at Ivy Tech Community College’s Lafayette campus, said she was a bit skeptical.

In October 2021, with hospitals and the rest of the health care community struggling to fill nursing positions stretched so thin by a pandemic, the college had been challenged to find ways to grow its nursing program.

The questions that came, Fights said: “How would you grow the program? How far could you grow it? And what do you need to do it?”

The Lafayette campus – which has room for 60 nursing students from 300 to 400 candidates each year for its two-year associate’s degree program – already had $500,000 coming from an $8.75 million grant from IU Health to the statewide Ivy Tech system to expand nursing programs.

Fights said Monday the school calculated what it would take to expand the program with a second, dedicated nursing simulation lab on the second floor of Ivy Hall, recruit new faculty and hire additional staff to accommodate a 36% increase in the number of graduates ready to take their registered nurse board tests. The number: $2.8 million.

“It was literally a dream,” Fights said.

In response, she said, North Central Health Services – a health care and community grant-making organization grown out of the former Home Hospital in Lafayette – stepped in.

“They even came back to us to double-check the numbers – as in, is this enough?” Aaron Baute, chancellor of Ivy Tech’s Lafayette campus, said.

On Monday, NCHS announced a $2 million grant that will have the new simulation lab in place and faculty hiring ramped up in time for the fall 2023 school year.

“Across Indiana, more than 4,000 nursing jobs remain vacant,” Stephanie Long, president and CEO of NCHS, said Monday during an announcement at Ivy Hall. “There are more nursing jobs than graduates. That’s a little startling. The demand for nursing applicants at Ivy Tech is greater than the current program capacity due to limitations on teaching space and faculty resources. We're hopeful this grant will help break down those barriers.”

Baute said Ivy Tech campuses across the state had been pushed to find ways to add room for its nursing programs. He said that came with the understanding that it wasn’t the same as finding classroom space and an instructor. With accreditation standards that demand 10:1 student-to-faculty ratios, specific coursework and clinical schedules and space requirements for labs, upping nursing capacity was an expensive proposition.

How this one came together was, Baute said, “a bit stunning.”

“One thing, it’s the best program we have,” Baute said. “It just is. … And we’re about to be able to provide more of it.”

Fights said Ivy Tech will add to curriculum for a two-year associate’s degree and another for licensed practical nurses to get the coursework and training needed to qualify as a registered nurse. A new program geared to help people with military medic training to transition into RNs will start in fall 2022. Another will be designed for medical assistants to make a similar move to being RNs, starting in 2023.

“The workforce is crying out for every graduate we can give them,” Fights said. “We literally dreamed about being able to do more. NCHS made it a reality.”

INDIANA SENATE DISTRICT 23: MEET THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR GOP NOMINATION

Yesterday’s campaign Q&A dealt with the contested Republican primary in Indiana House District 41, a seat with no incumbent on the ballot, after state Rep. Tim Brown announced his retirement.

Today’s is about Indiana Senate District 23, another seat without an incumbent. Five candidates, including four Republicans, are on the primary ballot. In the contested primary, you have:

• Christian Beaver, a West Lafayette resident who is part of Beaver Construction Management.

• Paula Copenhaver, Fountain County clerk and a Covington resident.

• Spencer Deery, part of Purdue President Mitch Daniels’ staff and a West Lafayette resident.

• Bill Webster, a Rockville resident, marketing and sales manager for building products business Edward C. Levy Co. and chairman of the Parke County Republican Party.

The winner in the May 3 primary will face Democrat David Sanders, a Purdue biology professor and West Lafayette City Council member.

Senate District 23 covers all or parts of Tippecanoe, Vermillion, Parke, Fountain, Warren and Montgomery counties. It will essentially be an open seat, after state Sen. Phil Boots, a Crawfordsville Republican, was drawn out of the district and has since announced he plans to retire at the end of this term.

Here’s a sampling of the questions for the contested primary candidates from an hourlong forum hosted March 28 by the Tippecanoe County Republican Party at Duncan Hall in downtown Lafayette. The questions came from WLFI anchor Jeff Smith, WBAA reporter Emilie Syberg and me.

I’ll pin a full video version of the session below this Q&A.

Question: Why is now the right time for you to run for office?

Bill Webster: “What’s really changed for me and where that moment came was the federal government overreach, what I refer to as Fedzilla. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and it’s out of control. The whole COVID thing, watching the state and some of these mandates and things that went on, I find it very concerning and alarming. I'm a husband of 24 years, I'm a father and grandfather. I'm very concerned for our future, and it takes good people to stand up to make a difference. And I felt like it was time for me to get back involved. And here I am.”

Christian Beaver: “As for why I am running now, the answer has come to me as I've been traveling throughout this district. There are a lot of people in a lot of need, that have some real challenges. They need some real help. And that's what I was raised to do. It’s what I know how to do, is listen and try to help people as best I can.”

Spencer Deery: “It wasn't anything that I expected or anticipated. It really started looking at the new district and looking at the challenges that we have in our state and politics, in general. And looking at the opportunities we have as well to advance the conservative movement. And realizing that those challenges and opportunities were too great to leave to conservative politicians rather than conservative leaders or to aspiring career politicians rather than public servants. And I felt like as I talked to people that we needed somebody who could step up and could be a conservative leader and not just a conservative politician.”

Paula Copenhaver: “I could have ran for another term as Fountain County clerk and been comfortable, probably not had any competition. But with the overreach from the pandemic, it was very evident. …  I know what the government's responsibility is, and more importantly, I know what their responsibility is not. And I've been concerned from the beginning. … The other reason is, I prayed about it. I felt like I'd be disobedient to what the Lord has called me to if I did not run.”

Paula Copenhaver (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Question: Indiana teachers complained that the legislature this year overreached and tried to do too many things to get into the classrooms and basically micromanage what they were doing. Do you think the teachers had a point? Or do you think that the legislature just didn't get done what you wanted them to get done? Where do you stand?

Christian Beaver: “One of the top two issues that I get asked about are the education bills that our legislature has been kicking around down in Indianapolis. I have not found one public educator in the district who had a positive opinion on what they were trying to do. I have families who are educators in various parts of the state. I understand what they were trying to do. But for the schools in the rural counties, House Bill 1134 really does more harm than it does good. And that's what they're telling me. That's what makes sense to me.”

Spencer Deery: “So, there's a balance to me here. So first of all, I come from a long line of public educators. And well, my father was a principal for about 35 years, and my mom was an educator as well. So I've seen the sacrifices and challenges that the teachers go through and their dedication and I support them in that. And so there is one concern when it's not a conservative principle to have the state government micromanaging and bossing around local education. Now, with that said, it's important to remember, too, though, that public educators work for taxpayers. And so there is a role for the state government to be able to guide and direct educators in making sure they're accomplishing goals and focus on things that are most important for the long-term objectives of the state. But it needs to be done in a way that also is respectful of the professionals that teachers are. So there's definitely a sweet spot to get there.”

Paula Copenhaver: “Teachers should be allowed to teach. And kids should be allow to be kids. … If (legislators) are wanting to pass something, then they should have that discussion with the teachers first and see how we can benefit them and come along together or if it even really needs to be legislated.”

Bill Webster: “There are great teachers, but you know, there's a few bad apples here and there. …  I believe that the General Assembly, in the House bill, they were headed in the right direction. And again, they missed their marks a few times, and it's something that they just need to keep an eye on.”

Question: With permanent daylight saving time a real possibility, do you have a position on that change? And do you think Indiana should be in the Eastern time zone?

Paula Copenhaver: “I think Indiana should go back to what we were before we ever changed to daylight saving time. I'm looking forward to not having to change my clock again, that's what I want to do. As a matter of fact, that's one of the first things people say to me: When you get in the state legislature, can you please put it back the way it was?”

Bill Webster: “I hope it does go back that way. And I would like for Indiana to be in the Eastern time zone.

Christian Beaver: “I've been asked about this multiple times, a lot of people cared more about this than I would have guessed. But my personal preference and what I am hearing a lot of people saying that they would like to see us on Eastern time, as well.”

Spencer Deery: “I work for Mitch Daniels, so you can guess that I hear it a lot. … I think that the best of both worlds would be if this were taken care of at the federal level and then we can have the Indiana time that we liked. But we also cannot have the differences and disparity and confusion that we had and still maintain the economic growth that resulted from having that switch. … In terms of which time zone, I feel that as a legislator, this is one where I really want to listen to the people. My personal opinion is I like mowing the lawn very late at night. But I'm not going to make a decision if I'm the only one and most district feels like we want to be on Central time. I can sacrifice that.”

Spencer Deery (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Question: A Supreme Court rule expected this summer could significantly change Roe v. Wade and give more control to the states over abortion restrictions. How far should Indiana go in restricting abortions? Secondarily, what policies would you support and how would you work to help Hoosier families with children?

Christian Beaver: “Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human life. So I'm pro-life. And I will always be on the side of things that is seeking to rein in abortions. I would like to see us get to no abortions. To your second question … it's not something that I hear a whole lot about, which is what are we doing about these young women who are pregnant, who have lack of resources, lack of support? We as Republicans are often criticized for that. What they say is, once the baby's born, you don't really care what happens to you. I really do care what happens to it. And I've served as a CASA, and I've seen families broken up, I've seen children separated from parents, I've seen parental rights being terminated. We need to do more, to help these women with prenatal care and help them to stay on their feet after the child was born.”

Spencer Deery: “Five years old. That's about how old my son would have been. We had a child who was stillborn about five years ago. And before his death, we heard his heartbeat. He was born in a hospital just like our other children. And we held him we saw his fingers and toes. And his life was important and valuable. And it wasn't just important and valuable because he was wanted. The idea that you can wish away the value of a human life because a baby’s unwanted, to me, is egregiously wrong. So, so I am pro-life, and I oppose abortion in every way. But I do really appreciate the second part of the question, too, because as we hopefully reduce or eliminate abortions, that's going to require the rest of the world, from charitable groups to governments, everything that we can to bring towards helping women who are in unfortunate difficult situations, helping children who are born in unfortunate situations, from prenatal care to adoption to you addressing poverty. Just simply doing the one without the other is incomplete my eyes, and if we're going to go this step, we need to step it up and in every aspect.”

Paula Copenhaver: “All life is precious. From conception to even the end of life, all life is precious. Every day at noon, I have my alarm set to pray for our nation. And not just for our nation, but for Supreme Court justices, that their hearts to be awakened to life being precious, also. To abolish abortion, which would be fabulous, as far as taking care of them – it’s not the government's job to take care of us. It is the church’s. And when I say the church, it is not just a building, it is the believers, the people, the community to come alongside those who have needs and reach out to them and be the support for them. It needs to be easier to have adoptions. We have a lot of foster care. We have a lot of children in need. But we also need to make that available to people to be able to adopt and to support life, because all life is precious.”

Bill Webster: “100% pro-life. All of my loose change goes to the local pregnancy crisis center. … This is something that we'll have to study more, even if this does take place with the Supreme Court, where adjustments will be needed for programs out there like adoption, for example. There's a lot of families out there that will adopt. But is there too much regulation and some of that stuff? Is there not enough? That’s things that I would certainly be interested in looking at as a legislator.”

Bill Webster (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Question: Do you believe Joe Biden was elected president in a free and fair election? And do you have confidence in Indiana's election security?

Spencer Deery: “All of these things can be true, and in fact, are true. One, just about every election, in my lifetime, there has been a certain amount of fraud and incompetence in elections. Two, that fraud and incompetence is not enough to sway or determine or change election. So three, yes, Joe Biden is the president. But  four because there is fraud or incompetence, we need to do everything that we can to ensure the integrity of our elections. That means making sure that absentee ballots come with an identification. … That our voter technology has a paper trail, which bipartisan, from right to left, all believe is the gold standard. There's a number of things that we can and need to be focused on, and we should. But the short answer is yes.

Paula Copenhaver: “That is the question of the year, right? The last two years, whatever? I would venture to say, if he didn't win fairly, if there's possibility that there could be fraud, then why wouldn't we investigate it, so that we would know for without a shadow of a doubt that, yes, he is our president, or, no, he is not. My concern is, as the election administrator for my county, if there is a problem, then you need to get to the bottom of it. Because if we don't have free and fair elections and integrity, then we don't really have a republic. Our elections in Indiana – I can speak on those for my county, specifically – yeah, they were fair and honest. … There isn't a voter ID law to vote by mail in the state of Indiana. That is something that we need to fix in the legislature. If you're going to vote, you need to show your ID and prove that you are a U.S. citizen, first and foremost, and that you are who you say you are before you cast a ballot.”

Bill Webster: “Well, he's our president, and we're all dealing with the consequences there, right? You get caught up in that rabbit hole, I guess, whether he truly won or he didn’t win, when we need to look forward. … Are there tweaks that need to be made occasionally? Yeah. … The individual states should have their own voting law. It should never be federal, I'll throw that in there. I will also say, as I've been out on the campaign trail, voting integrity is a huge issue with the voters. They're very concerned about that. But I’ll also say as the county (Republican Party) chair, do you know how hard it is to find poll workers? It's difficult. People want election integrity, but they won't work the polls for a day. … People need to get more involved in their local communities.”

Christian Beaver: “I’m of the opinion that from the very first election, there have been people trying to bend and break the rules. Anybody who says that there is no election fraud that takes place anywhere, ever, has got to have their head in the sand. Do I believe that he won legitimately? If there were any shenanigans going on in November of 2020, I don't believe that swayed or determined the election. I believe that he won. Now, as far as our state goes, there's always more that we can do. … I will always be on the side that is trying to strengthen our election security in Indiana.

Christian Beaver (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Question: Indiana now allows permitless carry of handguns in Indiana. And multiple members of law enforcement spoke out against the passage of this legislation. So do you support the passage of the legislation? And what would you say to members of law enforcement who were concerned that this would impede their ability to respond as they were out doing their work?

Bill Webster: “I am strongly pro-Second Amendment. I do agree and have supported constitutional carry for every year they've tried to get it passed. … You get law enforcement folks out of the limelight, so to speak, and they'll tell you that they support it, as well. Now, there are some don't, but there are a lot that do.  I also say that there were 23 states that have it before us, and I've not seen one of them repeal it, yet. Strong supporter.”

Christian Beaver: “I want to see the Second Amendment applies to all law-abiding shooters. And I want to make sure that law enforcement feel supported. Speaking with law enforcement officials in this district, the majority of people that I've spoken with were not really in favor of the constitutional carry. The citizens that I've spoken to, the ones who did bring it up, they were in favor of the constitutional carry. This is going to be an issue where I'm going to lean pretty much exclusively on the opinions of the people in the district.”

Spencer Deery: “For me, it's not a question of do you support it, because it's the law of the land now. It's a question of, would you support repealing it? And the answer that is, absolutely, no. I would like to see the law implemented and carried and done as wisely and as effectively as we can. And I appreciate that after the governor signed it that the police force indicated that they were eager to do so. This is an issue that has split the party as I talk to people in different parts of the district. I hear all sides of it. What I'm focused on is trying to unite the party for bigger and other fights that are coming ahead. I don't think that's a fight that we need to have, and I think that we need to continue and let it take its course. But what I do want to say is anytime there is a loss of liberty, it comes usually because citizens don't accompany that with an increase in personal responsibility. Here in Indiana, we now have the right restored to us for constitutional carry. If that's going to do disappear someday, it’s going to be because we as Hoosiers are not smart about.”

Paula Copenhaver: “We either have constitutional right or we don’t. Constitutional carry is a right. We have the right to defend ourselves. We have the right to keep and bear arms to defend ourselves. I'm thankful that they recognized our constitutional right. When our law enforcement train, they train as though everybody they stop or come in contact with is armed. And so it's no different. Why would we restrict our constitutional rights and not pass constitutional carry? I would hope to shout, we don't repeal our Constitution. Good golly. It doesn't matter what I'm wearing,  I'm always carrying. Because I believe in my right to carry and to defend myself if I need to.”

• For more: Here’s video of that forum – including additional questions, along with the candidates’ opening and closing statements – cued up to the start of the Indiana Senate District 23 section.

ABOUT THE PRIMARY: The May 3 primary will decide which candidates make the November general election in congressional, General Assembly, assorted county and township seats, precinct committee positions and delegates to the state party conventions. Voters may ask for either a Democratic or Republican ballot at the polling place.

Where to vote ahead of the May 3 primary day:

• At the election office: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays at the Tippecanoe County Board of Elections, on the first floor of the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. There will be 9 a.m.-4 p.m. hours on Saturday in the elections office. The final day of early voting will be 8 a.m.-noon Monday, May 2.

• Noon-6 p.m. April 25-30: Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South; Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.; Northend Community Center, 2000 Elmwood Ave.; Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South.

Polling place maps and wait times: The Tippecanoe County clerk and assessor’s office have developed an app that lets you know how many people have voted at a particular site and how long you can expect to wait. Here's the link: Early vote sites wait times.

Polls will be open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. The county will have 17 vote centers open that day.

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Thanks, again, to the League of Women Voters of Greater Lafayette and Vote411.org for sponsoring today’s Based in Lafayette edition. For the League’s interviews with candidates on the May 3 primary ballot, click the graphic below.

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