ASU president turns attention to health care professions
Marion Fedrick participates in State of Community health care forum
From Staff Reports
ALBANY – In the wake of the recent Albany Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored State of the Community event that focused on health care in the region, Albany State University interim President Marion Fedrick said the university is working with health care providers to assure that its graduates meet employer needs.
Fedrick highlighted the importance of having a statewide conversation about health care needs and education at the chamber’s State of the Community event.
The initiative brought together community leaders and health care professionals to have an insightful dialogue about health care education in southwest Georgia and what it means for the region’s economy.
The health care education panel included representatives from the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center, the Medical College of Georgia Southwest Campus, the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Southwest Campus and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
“I think that, on the University System of Georgia level, a larger conversation needs to happen among all of our schools that offer health care degrees,” Fedrick said. “We need to strengthen our collective ability to educate and graduate our students in health care fields.”
This past spring, ASU graduated almost 600 health professionals. Fedrick said the university has been hard at work with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital on an ASU nursing curriculum redesign.
“We want to make sure that as we’re graduating those 600 professionals, they are who the employer needs and they are prepared to provide patient care,” she said.
The ASU president noted the possibility of ASU developing a rural task force that will assess health care needs in southwest Georgia.
“It’s a big endeavor, but I think it is critical to start this effort in southwest Georgia,” Fedrick said.
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