To Educate Healers - Dr. Kyle McInnis

Kyle McInnis, Sc.D, dean of PC’s new College of Nursing and Health Sciences, joins us to discuss the college’s expansion into these academic areas, the 10-month process that culminated in the Sept. 12 state approval of PC’s nursing program, and the work that remains before the first students begin studies in the new programs next fall.

Show Notes

Kyle McInnis, Ph.D., dean of PC’s new College of Nursing and Health Sciences, joins us to discuss the college’s expansion into these academic areas, the 10-month process that culminated in the Sept. 12 state approval of PC’s nursing program, and the work that remains before the first students begin studies in the new programs next fall.

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Creators & Guests

Host

Joseph Carr

Sr. Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communications

Producer

Chris Judge

Multimedia and Live Event Producer

What is Providence College Podcast?

The Providence College Podcast features interviews with interesting members of the Friar Family. These in-depth conversations with PC students, Dominicans, faculty, staff, and alumni provide a rich look into the lives of noteworthy Friars. Occasionally we will also bring you on-campus lectures and presentations. Go Friars!

00;00;01;10 - 00;00;23;05
Joe Carr
Welcome to the Providence College podcast. My name is Joe Carr and our producer today is Chris Judge. By now you may have heard that Providence College has established a new school of nursing and health sciences. A major milestone occurred on Monday, September 12th, when the Rhode Island Licensing Authority authorized creation of the nursing program to begin in the fall of 2023.

00;00;23;22 - 00;00;42;17
Joe Carr
The architect of this initiative, Dr. Kyle McInnis, is our guest today. He joined the PC community just last November and in less than ten months quarterbacked an extensive project that required significant involvement from college faculty and staff, along with external partners. Quite an achievement, to say the least. Kyle, thank you for joining us today.

00;00;43;04 - 00;00;44;24
Kyle McInnis
Thank you, Joe. It's pleasure to be here.

00;00;45;13 - 00;00;51;01
Joe Carr
So how does it feel to have reached this point and achieved this milestone in the nursing approval just a few days ago?

00;00;51;21 - 00;01;09;23
Kyle McInnis
Thank you. We're so excited. This is a really historic time for the college. And I think the buzz at it's created, we're trying to ride that wave and really get the message out to students, alumni and really everyone to really kick off the new school.

00;01;10;11 - 00;01;16;20
Joe Carr
And there's still much to be done as dean of this new school. What are some of those near-term priorities for you?

00;01;18;02 - 00;01;46;02
Kyle McInnis
That's a loaded question, a very good one. I'll put them in category. One of the priorities right now is recruitment of just talented students. So Raul Fox and his team and admissions are on the road as they do for all of our schools at Providence College, really out there telling everything that the PC has to offer. And so we're in great hands.

00;01;46;23 - 00;02;10;00
Kyle McInnis
But it's you know, it's new. The window of opportunity in the recruitment phase is small. So the a lot of priority right now and really recruiting the first class of students. Number two, I would say we've got to have great faculty to teach the students. And so I've got a I'm calling it the hiring roadmap. So you imagine building a school from scratch.

00;02;10;11 - 00;02;35;00
Kyle McInnis
You've really got to have, you know, the best faculty in PC, such a hard school and a lot of people want to be part of this community. So we're getting lots and lots of interest from just superb faculty. And then part three, you got to have a place to have a home in the new school. And so there's a lot to talk about around what's going on in the facility world.

00;02;35;00 - 00;02;40;00
Kyle McInnis
So kind of all of those things and more. But I start with those building blocks.

00;02;40;16 - 00;03;03;14
Joe Carr
Oh, that sounds like quite a lot. So I think you'll be busy for a while, obviously. One thing we should mention is the structure of this school. So there's nursing and health sciences. That means a nursing program that will start next fall. Health sciences is divided into two tracks a new health sciences program starting next fall, plus the existing major in health policy and management.

00;03;03;14 - 00;03;11;12
Joe Carr
So it's really already in place, in a sense. But these two groups of students that really need to be recruited and enrolled, right?

00;03;11;24 - 00;03;48;27
Kyle McInnis
That's right. So the structure of the school is one of an interdisciplinary approach to health, not only within our school, but outside the school, you know, collaboration across across the other schools, as I'm sure we'll talk about. But yes, there's basically three majors within the school. So as you said, health sciences and nursing, a new but we're thrilled that the existing and well-established health policy and management program, we've moved that over into the school so that that just fits so perfectly.

00;03;49;13 - 00;03;58;00
Joe Carr
They already have. You mentioned faculty, a group of established and excellent faculty members already in the school. As part of that, what we call LPM program.

00;03;58;29 - 00;04;25;27
Kyle McInnis
Yeah. That's it's nice to get started and inherit a group like that. We they're they're superb. They're they're an amazing faculty. They're so productive and students love them. They're they're just so student oriented. They're the whole package. So we've got a great, great start. They're actually helping to conduct some of the structures. So at least on the health sciences side.

00;04;25;27 - 00;04;39;26
Kyle McInnis
And yeah, so you know, and we've got a great chair and Dr. Debra Levine, she's also just so plugged in to the entire PC community that it's a great foundation to build.

00;04;39;26 - 00;04;53;23
Joe Carr
On a program with deep roots and a long tradition. Way back when I was a student in the late 70 early eighties, it was slightly different name, but it's been here a long time. So lots of alumni who understand how this all works, which can be helpful to write.

00;04;54;05 - 00;04;54;23
Kyle McInnis
Right on.

00;04;55;14 - 00;05;13;29
Joe Carr
When it comes to students. So common application is the way that students find their way to signaling their interest in Providence College. That nursing major became available on that on Monday, the day of the approval, and then by Tuesday there was already at least one applicant. So that was pretty encouraging, wasn't it?

00;05;14;10 - 00;05;43;12
Kyle McInnis
It really was. You know, for students, it takes time to put all your materials together. So obviously there's students out there that have been waiting for this. They knew it was coming, but we were really careful. We didn't want to overpromise until we checked that last box of the external regulatory steps that we needed to go through. So it wasn't a great kept secret, but it was not fully out in the public as it was this week.

00;05;43;12 - 00;05;56;20
Kyle McInnis
So thank you to your team and in all the work that you did where we're now really having quite a response about the announcement this week. So again, we're pretty excited.

00;05;57;00 - 00;06;04;26
Joe Carr
And the idea is to start with a moderately to small size group of students, right? 50 nursing in 50 new health sciences majors.

00;06;05;15 - 00;06;35;19
Kyle McInnis
That's right. So that's 100 new students. So it's incremental increase in the size of freshman classes, honestly, going forward. So each year from this point forward, we've got all the other majors at the school, you know, great things happening across each of the schools and PC and now you've got another school that is bringing this amazingly talented group of students.

00;06;35;19 - 00;07;00;02
Kyle McInnis
We do think they're going to be really top notch students because it's such a competitive field. So yeah, we'll have 100 new students and then the following year we will have about 75 new students in each of those two majors. So, you know, when we're fully matriculated with just these two new programs, you know, about 600 new students.

00;07;00;15 - 00;07;14;12
Joe Carr
We'll spend some time on nursing specifically in a minute. But let's talk a little bit more about this new track in health sciences. What will students in that major study, what will the potential outcomes be? What do we mean by allied health, by the way?

00;07;15;09 - 00;07;43;25
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, thanks, Joe. Great question. So my favorite question, because I am my training at Boston University is I have a doctorate in health sciences. So health science is a big umbrella term. It really means almost anything in the health field that students have a big platform to to leverage their own particular interests. So think of it as a very customizable experience that students will have depending on their interest.

00;07;44;04 - 00;08;10;27
Kyle McInnis
And the way you build that curriculum is you put lots of electives in. So you and I both. B Health Science, health sciences students and have a similar experience in some regard, but also a tailored experience because we might choose our internships differently, we might choose our electives are focal areas, our minors might be different. So we're still in health, but we are we can pursue different areas.

00;08;10;27 - 00;08;45;04
Kyle McInnis
So you, for instance, might be interested in maybe someday becoming a physical therapist. And so, you know, there's a pathway for that. I might be interested in medical sales, so I might want to grab a little bit more experience in another way. So the commonality that we have is that the core requirements and core experiences are similar. And so anatomy and physiology, for instance, chemistry for the health professionals, microbiology for the health professionals.

00;08;45;04 - 00;09;13;21
Kyle McInnis
So you're hearing the science, right? Health science. It's a science major and it's focused on, you know, any aspect of health. So long winded answer, but it's a very broad field, very customizable, biggest benefit. It allows students to get what they need to either A, go right into practice, not as a license. So might be something else or right into business, but highly employable.

00;09;13;23 - 00;09;24;13
Kyle McInnis
After four years or be have everything you need completed to go on to graduate training where that licensure would occur makes sense.

00;09;24;20 - 00;09;50;24
Joe Carr
So you have a long career in higher education, so I'm sure this question lands right in your wheelhouse. But this all will happen at Providence College in the context of a broad based, liberal arts based education. So all these students will have specific coursework and whether it be nursing or the business of health care or whatever else it might be within these categories of major, but they'll also be studying development of Western civilization, etc..

00;09;51;12 - 00;09;55;06
Joe Carr
How what will that mean with respect to how their experience plays out?

00;09;55;25 - 00;10;26;02
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, that's so important. Provost Sean read as the Breslin. He said, You know, the students are PC students first and then whatever. Major so PC student who happens to be studying health sciences or nursing. So this is what we're excited about the the program that we have in the liberal arts, which is highly acclaimed, really nationally with a national reputation, is 100% intact.

00;10;26;02 - 00;10;50;29
Kyle McInnis
So the same exact experience for the students in this new school will have with the current students in any of the other schools. So nothing has changed in the foundation and we think that's what's going to set us apart. The critical thinking, problem solving, all of those great things that come out of a liberal arts education is going to be embedded fully into the training of future health professionals.

00;10;51;24 - 00;11;19;07
Joe Carr
So we've covered students there pretty well. We'll come back to a little bit more of that. But now faculty. So this is a major challenge, obviously, to staff this school up with with the faculty members, with the credentials and specialized knowledge to teach in these areas. How wide is the net that's being cast? How many of these or what sort of subset of these faculty members will be sort of practitioners who teach?

00;11;19;18 - 00;11;21;19
Joe Carr
How does this all work with these programs?

00;11;22;10 - 00;11;52;12
Kyle McInnis
Yeah. So first off, we have a well-established procedures in place here at the college for all of our faculty is again led by the provost and the team there and faculty driven in terms of searching and, you know, recommendations that they make ultimately to the president. And those criteria are our expertize not only in their field, but how do they align with who PCE is?

00;11;52;25 - 00;12;27;06
Kyle McInnis
How do they align with our Catholic and Dominican mission? And so that process is solid. It's well in place. And so we will follow that because it's a it's a recipe for success. We'll do national searches and we're already off and running. So we have a national search right now for the foundational course in anatomy and physiology. And we got enormous replied to that and scream have we're kind of towards the end of the screening out but if they all go like this we're in great shape.

00;12;28;03 - 00;12;39;19
Joe Carr
It's a big undertaking. And as important as anything, right, to get those folks in place and to find the people who are fit and who will really be great contributors to this cause.

00;12;39;29 - 00;13;05;12
Kyle McInnis
And Joe, I would just add real quickly on that, too, and I want to make sure I mention, you know, one of the characteristics I mean, we would call them teaching scholars. This is a student first teaching institution. And the faculty that we look for are those that are ultimately going to be great, what students but but also scholars and real experts in their field.

00;13;05;12 - 00;13;28;03
Kyle McInnis
And so that our students are learning from the best. But our faculty want to be with students. They want to spend time with them. So we know what we're looking for and and again, you align that those characteristics with in particular faculty that want to come to a liberal arts institution and a Catholic liberal arts institution at that.

00;13;28;03 - 00;13;34;25
Kyle McInnis
So we have all the pieces in place and and we then go out on a national search and look for the best.

00;13;35;09 - 00;13;55;01
Joe Carr
One thing that I suppose won't hurt is the potential of the opportunity to do work in a state of the art brand new facility. So to come back to that very, very priority, work is well underway on figuring out where all of this will happen and what that building will look like. So tell us more about about the thinking with respect to where this will all occur.

00;13;56;03 - 00;14;25;09
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, there's nothing like the new car smell to, you know, when you're out looking for people to come for a ride, I guess. So we're actually doing this in two phases. And, you know, we have such talent and John Sweeney and who's the CFO here, and he's really the mastermind with figuring out how this all works on this this plot of land we have in the middle of the city.

00;14;25;09 - 00;14;44;16
Kyle McInnis
But it's a two phased approach. The first phase is that we're going to renovate a portion of the Feinstein building up on the fourth floor. So as a nice piece of real estate up there that hasn't been used in a number of years, you probably could tell us the history of that building in that space. By about 3000 or so square feet.

00;14;44;27 - 00;15;09;02
Kyle McInnis
And so that over the when the freshman get here in the fall will be completely redone. And that will be the site of their anatomy and physiology course. So over 100 students will be taking, you know, in a number of sections throughout the day. Just fantastic, you know, great windows, great view of the city up there where we've already ordered the equipment.

00;15;09;02 - 00;15;32;22
Kyle McInnis
We'll have really the finest types of technology driven equipment, like we have virtual cadavers, which is a I can go into detail on that. But basically think about your iPhone being eight feet long and being able to look into a cadaver and being able to dissect it virtually. So we have that kind of thing, augmented, virtual reality, just just really cool things.

00;15;33;01 - 00;15;56;21
Kyle McInnis
Students are really going to appreciate that. So we'll be there for 18 months or three semesters. So first class comes in, they do those types of courses there. They do everything else throughout the, you know, the campus, all their development of Western civilization, etc.. So they'll do fall, spring, they'll come back and the next fall they'll do one more semester there.

00;15;57;12 - 00;16;36;07
Kyle McInnis
Then the magic really happens simultaneously while being in that building, there'll be a construction of somewhere around 100,000 square foot between three and five floors where the final building currently resides on the lower end of campus near the Smith Center for the Arts. Those of people listening who know that building is a big building, very long, kind of long and narrow the health sciences building to give you a feel for it will be a little bit longer than that built building where you where used to be.

00;16;36;07 - 00;16;44;24
Kyle McInnis
So it'll be completely taken down and it will be wider almost. I don't know if it's twice as wide, but significantly wider also.

00;16;44;24 - 00;16;50;28
Joe Carr
Maybe deeper might be another way to characterize that paper. Yeah, right. Exactly. Further off that quad.

00;16;51;29 - 00;17;14;05
Kyle McInnis
That's right. From the quad into the existing parking lot down there. So is a there's a pretty giant building and that will be have the same thing that I was just talking about with everything that you see in there is going to just be your jaw will drop because what's available to train students in the health sciences is pretty inspiring.

00;17;14;05 - 00;17;16;18
Kyle McInnis
So it'll be it'll be a spectacle.

00;17;17;11 - 00;17;37;07
Joe Carr
As a two year resident of the Fennell basement, taking this a little bit higher. It's okay. This, by the way, if you told me way back then that 40 something years later would still be in use, I don't think I would have believed it then. So we're lucky to have gotten this far with it. That's a great location on the eastern edge of the campus.

00;17;37;07 - 00;17;41;08
Joe Carr
One more year or a Fennell Hall, though. So students get the best of that experience.

00;17;41;18 - 00;18;01;19
Kyle McInnis
And it's so historic, although, you know, it's been around for so long and obviously has an amazing history even before you know, it was a dorm and other things at the college. It has its roots in the medical community. Right. So it was an old hospital and many things at one point, even a dorm for nurses. So it's very appropriate.

00;18;02;10 - 00;18;28;09
Kyle McInnis
One thing I want to mention, though, is that that serves such a really unique purpose on campus, too. There's a lot of singles in their unit, so there is a lot of thought and a lot of planning going on for kind of the reshuffling of those types of spaces and where they'll go on campus. Obviously, Shanley Hall, our newest dormitory, will be a big piece of this puzzle with 350 beds.

00;18;28;09 - 00;18;36;29
Kyle McInnis
So there there's a lot it's like a domino. You build one and you've got to, you know, create all the other things that happen behind it.

00;18;37;08 - 00;19;01;02
Joe Carr
Yes. You're right. Between the vice president for business and finance operations, student affairs, physical plan, all these great colleagues we have here, with no doubt they will figure it out. It will be great, by the way, for my fellow geezers, Einstein was formerly Stephen Hall, which kind of is a mirror image of what's now St Joseph Hall. So two male residence halls side by side there.

00;19;01;11 - 00;19;21;12
Joe Carr
And one of the great coincidences of all time, the fourth floor, Stephen Hall, was what was called the infirmary. So that's where sick students went in those days. And now we are that same space will be used effectively, the same space to educate their first nursing students. So yeah, there's a lot is how things go.

00;19;21;23 - 00;19;27;05
Kyle McInnis
It really is. There's so much connectivity to the past and I can really appreciate that.

00;19;28;02 - 00;19;45;11
Joe Carr
Let's back up a bit and talk about your background. You studied biology in college, then got a master's in exercise science from Springfield, followed by a doctorate in applied anatomy and physiology from B.U.. It sounds like exercise, fitness and sports have probably been a big part of your life.

00;19;45;11 - 00;20;10;02
Kyle McInnis
It really has. You know, I was a I guess I call myself washed up athlete right as younger. But but it was a big part of my life and and I really love the study of the body. Right. And so I found this exercise physiology B, where the two big things I really loved growing up and that was the natural for me and was able to make a career out of that.

00;20;10;13 - 00;20;11;20
Joe Carr
What sports did you like to play?

00;20;12;12 - 00;20;17;26
Kyle McInnis
Oh, just about everything. Baseball, basketball, football, just everything.

00;20;17;26 - 00;20;20;12
Joe Carr
So whatever was available, whatever it was.

00;20;20;21 - 00;20;30;25
Kyle McInnis
You know, that's what it was. You know, Joe, back then, you know, you didn't play one sport now. And to be competitive, you got to, you know, a lot of a lot of kids got to stay with one. So.

00;20;31;09 - 00;20;50;19
Joe Carr
I mean, tennis fans watching a lot of the U.S. Open and John McEnroe talked about that quite a bit by how strongly he feels that young athletes should play a lot of different sports and shows with some of the athleticism, for example, we see with the new generation of tennis players. So I think we're on to something there, right?

00;20;50;29 - 00;21;11;00
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, absolutely. He has a lot of a lot of sports medicine and physiology behind that, too, with just the amount of repetition and using your body the same way. And so but we've gotten so sophisticated in the training. I know the podcast isn't about that today, but it's it's really interesting. And these are the types of things that an exercise physiologist might look at.

00;21;11;17 - 00;21;36;27
Joe Carr
It's the beauty of podcast scale. They can go anywhere, which is a fun part of this, but I thank you for that inside. Interesting stuff. Tell us more about your scholarly work as a faculty member and a researcher. I know you were at educational institutions including UMass, Boston and Merrimack and some of the nation's really leading medical facilities, including Children's Hospital and at Mass General.

00;21;36;27 - 00;21;42;26
Joe Carr
So in the Boston Medical Facility, tell us what what your research areas have been.

00;21;42;26 - 00;22;07;21
Kyle McInnis
Thank you. I started out in kind of the rehabilitation side of of health care and medicine, and in particular was very interested in the cardiovascular system. So I my master's degree was in cardiac rehabilitation, a specialty in that. And that's about helping people restore their health once, you know, they've had an event like a heart attack or bypass surgery, that type of thing.

00;22;07;28 - 00;22;42;21
Kyle McInnis
So I did that for years and was doing that as a young faculty member in Boston, the Boston Medical Center, and the cardiologist. And I said, well, you know, would love to really shift the paradigm and how do we prevent some of these people from becoming patients? So really at that was a turning point. I really started focusing on prevention and so helping people to eat healthier and and to get exercise and, you know, everything from sleep to stress just really what was called lifestyle medicine.

00;22;43;24 - 00;23;12;03
Kyle McInnis
And then finally, the ultimate form of prevention as you go as young as you can go. And so I really got interested in pediatrics and kids. And so for the last decade, my work has really been around helping to promote healthy kids. And a lot of that is obviously lifestyle related. And in particular, I guess being in Boston and being in kind of the south side of Boston in the Dorchester area, I was really interested in health disparities.

00;23;12;04 - 00;23;33;27
Kyle McInnis
You know, the both the adults and kids weren't equally healthy or equally unhealthy. There's a lot of mismatch and having to do with their socioeconomic status and even race genetics, a lot of those things. So that's what I did too. I started out in the rehab world and then got really interested in prevention, and then the ultimate prevention is the youngest.

00;23;33;28 - 00;23;36;11
Kyle McInnis
You know, that we can get kids to be healthy.

00;23;36;19 - 00;23;43;08
Joe Carr
Now there's a lot of impact there. So imagine the lives touched by that kind of work is very important. Very impressive.

00;23;43;20 - 00;24;15;10
Kyle McInnis
Thank you. I really appreciate it. One of the areas just one last thing to throw in there, that in particular was focused on was where old enough to remember not having cell phones and not having Xbox and PlayStations and all those things. Our toy toys are much less sophisticated, but I got interested in the influence of technology on kids health and kids lifestyle, and mostly it's in a negative way because it does the opposite, right?

00;24;15;10 - 00;24;39;11
Kyle McInnis
It engages them into sedentary behavior. And so my approach was really say, look, we tried to turn off. So a lot of that work at Harvard and some other things and it works for a little while, but not really. And so I basically said, if you can't beat them, join them. How can we how can we use technology to actually improve exercise and activity in children?

00;24;39;12 - 00;25;09;03
Kyle McInnis
So I really was at the front end of the the wave of interactive fitness based technology, active gaming, we called it. And so a lot of my early work started there and developed that into creating a program called Active Science Using Technology and Activity to actually teach science. And we were really fortunate that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation got behind us and funded us over a long period of time, and we rolled out some national programs.

00;25;09;16 - 00;25;16;17
Joe Carr
Well, this is starting to sound like we need a separate podcast, some other time about this. Really interesting, good stuff.

00;25;16;27 - 00;25;18;25
Kyle McInnis
There's a lot behind that, but yeah, so.

00;25;19;03 - 00;25;33;04
Joe Carr
It sounds fascinating. So working with the faculty has been a big part of this initiative here. PC What would you say about the involvement of the college's faculty in helping to shape the new programs and ways that they fit into the overall academic program?

00;25;33;27 - 00;26;01;02
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, look, I mean, we stood up a school in ten months. That's just unheard of. And there's only one way to do that, and that's with a lot of hands on deck. And the faculty were massive in that. I mean, they helped us in not just like science faculty. They were enormous in this, but our humanities faculty, our language arts, our math faculty is like, Oh, I need us to take this course, but I don't have time for them to take calculus before that.

00;26;01;02 - 00;26;19;29
Kyle McInnis
Can we create something? Of course we can. And we'd sit and we'd hammered out. So I am just so proud. So just beyond words, you can hear me struggling for words right now and how valuable our faculty have been to create something so incredible as this.

00;26;20;06 - 00;26;28;09
Joe Carr
You know, the president of the faculty Senate, Bob Barry, is a theologian. So a good example, right. Of of a partner from from a humanities based area.

00;26;28;24 - 00;26;50;04
Kyle McInnis
That's right. And Bob has a daughter who's a medical resident, so he knows he gets it. And it's funny, you just find that all over the place with, you know, either a spouse who's in the field or a child or whatever. So, you know, it sounds like, well, they're from a much different field and that's not going to be relatable.

00;26;50;04 - 00;27;04;07
Kyle McInnis
But that's one thing about health. We can all relate to it. And so I think there was no boundaries across disciplines. It was just faculty helping to create something that they knew was important for the institution.

00;27;04;10 - 00;27;08;14
Joe Carr
It was a bit more about the work in establishing community partnerships.

00;27;08;22 - 00;27;19;17
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, well my first stop was go to the go to guy Steve Morano because I call him Mr. Rhode Island. He he's just so well connected. So he.

00;27;19;23 - 00;27;26;17
Joe Carr
By the way, is Stevens is associate vice president for Public Community and government relations.

00;27;26;17 - 00;27;50;19
Kyle McInnis
And I could never get that title right. But Joe's across the hall for me. I mean, Steve is across the hall from me. So Steve basically and his incredible network set up all sorts of meetings for Father Sicard and I and others to have conversations about. This is what Peaks Vision is around a new school. How can we help?

00;27;50;19 - 00;28;14;04
Kyle McInnis
We want to be part of the solution, especially coming out of the Colburn world. We all know what you know what happened there with the stresses and strains on the health care system. So we were able to have lots of conversations. We met, I think, with every CEO or president of hospitals, long term care facilities, community health centers.

00;28;14;11 - 00;28;26;05
Kyle McInnis
It's just a pretty good variety of in the health care field. And the response was that one after another after another is, yes, when can you get started?

00;28;26;24 - 00;28;44;23
Joe Carr
That points to, I think, an important consideration here, and that is timing, especially as it relates to the creation of a nursing program. I've heard you use the word crisis in that in this field. So there's a real a real need for nurses right now.

00;28;44;23 - 00;29;09;00
Kyle McInnis
That's right. Yeah, it's unprecedented, actually. It was bad before COVID and and COVID took it to another deep, you know, kind of critical level. So, yeah, give an example. In one of the health care organizations, they typically would have you know, I don't know, it's a pretty big organization. But in the state, about 200 openings. They now average, you know, a thousand openings at a time.

00;29;10;03 - 00;29;31;23
Kyle McInnis
And so they're literally having a really challenge of filling all sorts of positions, nursing being the probably the worst. And it's an older profession to it. I think with COVID had it forced a lot of early retirements and so there was a kind of exodus on the back end and then no change on the front end of supply.

00;29;32;06 - 00;29;54;26
Kyle McInnis
And that resulted in a bigger gap. And, you know, over a couple of year period, the gap was already there, just it got worse. So the shining star in this are the bright way to look at this is what an opportunity for students to who want to do this. It's a calling. It's in their heart. There are opportunities for what they're going to be able to do.

00;29;54;26 - 00;30;07;28
Kyle McInnis
Is is amazing. That's and again, not just nursing. It's every aspect of of health care from therapies to physician assistants to medical lab scientists, all of it tremendous need.

00;30;08;15 - 00;30;16;27
Joe Carr
What will be distinctive about these health care practitioners or people who work in health care related fields who graduate from these programs here?

00;30;17;15 - 00;30;45;13
Kyle McInnis
I think we've touched on that, Joe. I think it's really that they are coming out with the skill set from their liberal arts based education. You know that a lot of places I think, you know, I was at a state institution for 20 years and others. But we in those institutions, we always don't look at it the same, you know, like your math course or your English or whatever it is.

00;30;45;13 - 00;31;09;22
Kyle McInnis
It's just it's a box to check to get on to, you know, to get into your anatomy class right. We don't approach it that way here. We this is critical work. We take our time. We are thoughtful. We are reflective. It's integrated into the fabric of the training of our students. So so I think about a health care professional, you know, a 22 year old just graduating.

00;31;10;04 - 00;31;47;04
Kyle McInnis
They're just they're loaded with all these skills, not only on the technical side that others are teaching and where there are other places are teaching. But they've got this other other kind of tool in the toolbox, if you will, and then the humanistic side. This is a very special spiritual place, and they are more formed, if you will, through our mission in ministry, led by Father Cutie and Father Bolger and others in our whole Dominican community here.

00;31;47;17 - 00;32;24;27
Kyle McInnis
That to me, that's not every day, you know, that's not a typical student. And so I think this piece, the new PC health care student and again, we were probably people listening to this that are already in health care, who went on outside of PC and had that foundation and doing this amazing work. But we're going to make it you know, we're going to open the gate and have a better pathway for students who want to come in and experience that, you know, that PC experience, but also serve up the health care while they're an undergraduate here.

00;32;25;00 - 00;32;47;11
Joe Carr
One last thing. Speaking of Dominicans, God looks out for Dominicans, right? We all know that to be true. This is kind of a miracle. But they're just so happened to be the perfect partner already in the Dominican order. Brother Ignatius Perkins. Tell us a bit about Brother Ignatius, his background and his impact already and looking into the future on this nursing program.

00;32;47;12 - 00;32;54;09
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, so Brother Ignatius, I won't say his age on because he doesn't seem to care about it. Nothing bothers.

00;32;54;09 - 00;32;57;14
Joe Carr
But it starts with a date. I guess you wouldn't mind us saying that right?

00;32;57;14 - 00;33;24;08
Kyle McInnis
Yeah, exactly. He's. He's a treasure. He's a gift. He was in the province. He has been a dean down and and Nashville and Louisville. He sits on boards of nursing bioethics. So think about, you know, his his elder age. But he he was one of the everything that he did. He was one of the first. So he's a he's a male nurse.

00;33;25;08 - 00;33;49;11
Kyle McInnis
He's got a Ph.D. in nursing. He's a Dominican brother. And, you know, he was delivered on our doorstep. And so he's my he guides me and showed, you know, helps me on because I'm not a nurse. I'm a health care professional and and a faculty member and an administrator. So we have this really resource to help make sure our curriculum is going to be the best.

00;33;49;11 - 00;33;51;28
Kyle McInnis
And he's guiding that process right now.

00;33;52;05 - 00;33;58;14
Joe Carr
You just as is kindness and graciousness, graciousness about him to which he makes him, of course, fit right in beautifully.

00;33;59;04 - 00;33;59;27
Kyle McInnis
Exactly.

00;34;00;03 - 00;34;20;27
Joe Carr
Well, this has been a great conversation. Kyle really enjoyed speaking with you about this and watching this unfold as a matter of ten months. You're right. That was a pretty aggressive timetable. But but here we are. Of course, there's still a lot to do, but it's an exciting prospect for the future of Providence College, where we're all fortunate that you're here to to lead us.

00;34;20;27 - 00;34;30;08
Joe Carr
And we'll look forward to checking in with you again in this format, maybe down the road a little bit, there's going to be there will be a lot more developments to to cover as we continue to work through this. Right.

00;34;30;26 - 00;34;54;07
Kyle McInnis
Absolutely. And again, I want to thank your team and and I'm sure you've done this in many of your podcasts, but I think under the leadership of Father Sarkar, that you just can't say enough about what he means to this institution and under his new leadership, this is his vision. This is his, you know, one one of the many things that will ultimately be his legacy.

00;34;54;07 - 00;35;20;01
Kyle McInnis
But it all started him. And we're really fortunate that he's our leader right now and guiding us through even the bigger picture of not only a new school, but all the great things we're doing across this campus in athletics, in our business, school and arts and science and education and you name it. PC is a hot place for a reason.

00;35;20;01 - 00;35;29;12
Kyle McInnis
And the biggest reason of the people that are here and it starts, you know, with Father Sicard, appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with you today, Joe.

00;35;29;19 - 00;35;48;11
Joe Carr
Totally agree. He's a big part of history is a big part of his strategic vision for the future of the College and for it to happen in 10 minutes. The first time most people ever heard about this was during his inaugural address October 1st last year. So this will only happen with that kind of leadership, obviously. So well said.

00;35;49;14 - 00;35;50;27
Kyle McInnis
All right. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it.

00;35;50;28 - 00;36;03;14
Joe Carr
Thank you, Carl. Thank you, listener for joining us for this Providence College podcast. Episodes are available everywhere. You can find podcasts for our producer, Chris Judge. I'm Joe Carr. Until next time.