May 12, 2009 – In 2007, Cibola General Hospital formed a partnership with NMSU that established the NMSU Grants Campus Nursing Program. This spring Cibola General Hospital is celebrating the graduation of the first cohort of students who began their classes during the fall 2007 semester.

In addition to the $240,000 CGH has granted to NMSU to help fund the nursing program, the hospital also provides individual scholarships and tuition reimbursement to nursing students. Three of the four students graduating from this cohort are CGH scholarship recipients: Katrina Peck, Vanessa Marez, and Vail Woodard.

“It is exciting to see the hospital’s investment in these students come to fruition,” says Kenneth Cochran, chief executive officer of Cibola General Hospital. "The national nursing shortage is a challenge that requires a community-wide effort to resolve. The hospital is doing our part by fulfilling two needs,” he says, “the service need to our patients, but also the need to develop the workforce in our community.”

The four NMSU graduating nurses received their nursing pins in a special ceremony Monday evening, recognizing their accomplishments in meeting the high standards of the NMSU Nursing Program and their transition from students to nurses. The three hospital scholarship recipients have accepted positions with Cibola General Hospital.