RIVEROAK celebrates nursing expansion with ribbon-cutting

Danny Federico

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Years of planning and a $4 million legislative appropriation came to fruition on Thursday, Aug. 20, as RIVEROAK Technical College celebrated the expansion of its nursing facilities with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

RIVEROAK staff, local elected officials, community partners and state representatives gathered at the newly expanded facility, which will house RIVEROAK’s nursing programs and provide additional space for students preparing to enter the healthcare workforce.

Julie Ulmer, an administrator at the college and president of the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce, said the expansion had been more than five years in the making.

“The reality is, we would have never been able to expand this building without legislative appropriation,” Ulmer said.

She credited Senator Corey Simon, Representative Jason Shoaf and RIVEROAK’s partners with helping bring the project to completion. RIVEROAK received a $4 million legislative appropriation for the project, allowing the college to expand its nursing facilities program.

Ulmer said the new facility includes space for two groups of practical nursing students, a patient care technician program and the college’s new registered nursing program. She added that of the 12 students entering the inaugural registered nursing class are graduates of RIVEROAK’s licensed practical nursing program who returned to continue their education.

Ulmer stated the expansion comes at a time when trained nurses remain in high demand and allows local students to advance their education without leaving the area.

Anna King, legislative aide to Rep. Shoaf, said the project also carries broader implications for rural healthcare, where access to providers and trained medical professionals remains a challenge.

“This building represents more than just classrooms,” she said. “It represents opportunity.”

King said RIVEROAK’s proposal quickly earned Shoaf’s support and praised the college’s staff for their work in bringing the expansion from an idea to reality.

“We know that access to health care is something that we struggle with in rural Florida, and what you're doing here is going to impact our region greatly,” she said.

Senator Simon echoed that sentiment, describing the appropriation not simply as an investment in a new building, but in the people who will learn and eventually work there.

“This isn't about a building,” he said. “It's about the lives that we change and the community that will be touched by the service that goes on at this school.”

Simon said expanding programs such as RIVEROAK’s can also help Suwannee County retain students and workers who might otherwise leave rural communities to pursue education and careers elsewhere.

“We have to stop sending our best and brightest away from here to go to big cities,” he said. “They're not a number, and never will they be a number in our rural counties.”

He added that the nursing expansion should be viewed as a beginning rather than an endpoint for RIVEROAK, pointing to other programs, including welding, that could benefit from future investment.

Following the ceremony, guests were invited to tour the new facility and its state-of-the-art laboratory spaces.