36 D'MENSIONS MAGAZINE D'YOUVILLE UNIVERSITY 37 The Patricia H. Garman School of Nursing offers three undergraduate programs (BSN, RN to BSN and accelerated BSN), a nurse practitioner master’s program, two doctorate programs (family focus and mental health) and two post-master’s certificates. All programs feature immersive internships and clinical placements, and graduates leave prepared for careers in several healthcare settings — from primary care to hospitals, community and home health to long-term care. The new dean enters her role in a post-COVID era where the shortage of registered nurses is very real. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the workforce is expected to expand by 6 percent by 2032, yet 23 percent of current nurses in outpatient, ambulatory and clinical settings have either recently retired or are expected to retire in the next five years. And with the country’s population continuing to live longer (Americans aged 65 and older will increase from 58 million to 82 million by 2050), the need for nurses is expected to remain for years to come. “I’m reminded that there are a lot of nursing programs in this country [more than 2,600 accredited programs, according to the AACN], but the real question is, ‘Are there going to be a lot of jobs?’ And the answer is yes — that is not something we’re going to have to worry about in the next 20 years and beyond,” says McCrory-Churchill. “There is no possible way — with the current nursing faculty shortage, especially — that this country can even come close in the next 10 years of meeting the need for nurses that we have right now.” It’s not just a nursing shortage; it’s a provider shortage, she says (the physician shortage alone is expected to hit 86,000 by 2036). Uncertainty with the country’s Medicare program, increased demand due to the aging population and rising chronic diseases and overall post-COVID burnout across all healthcare professions have been contributing factors. McCrory-Churchill says her program is not only providing well-paying careers for its graduates, it’s also contributing to positive health outcomes in Western New York and beyond. “Hospitals are spending, honestly, millions of dollars on travel nurses [RNs who take on temporary assignments to fill shortages] to fill those gaps,” she says. “We need to find a way in this country to make healthcare less expensive, and one way to do that is by continuing to put out high-quality nurses to fill those roles.” McCrory-Churchill has been at D’Youville for nearly 20 years, and a lot has changed in the nursing profession and in healthcare since then. Those changes are exciting, but the uncertainties in the PATRICIA H. GARMAN (’76 BSN) Patricia H. Garman was born in Selinsgrove, Penn., and earned a degree to become a registered nurse at Georgetown Medical Center of Temple University. After taking time off to raise her family, she returned to school in 1973 and earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at D’Youville and, later, a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing at the University of Buffalo. She became part of the faculty team at DYU in 1977 and taught psychiatric nursing until 1985. She and her husband Richard were advocates for nursing education in Western New York and generous supporters of D’Youville University and the University of Buffalo, her two alma maters. In 2017, the Garmans donated $2 million to D’Youville to name the School of Nursing after Patricia. The gift, at the time, marked one of the largest one-time gifts to the school and resulted in the continuation, expansion and strengthening of the nursing department. “Pat Garman chose to pursue a career in nursing at D’Youville for an opportunity to serve the health, education and welfare needs of the community,” President Dr. Lorrie Clemo said at the naming ceremony in 2017, three years after Garman’s death. “This gift honoring her legacy as an alumna and faculty member of the school will place her memory and the Garman name in a tradition of those who have established, nurtured and articulated a vision for a college of the future.” While she taught at D’Youville, Garman started Counseling Specialists (a business that focused on families and children), using her knowledge and experience to provide comprehensive care to individuals, families and children dealing with mental illness, addiction and other struggles. As a nurse, Garman’s strong therapeutic relationships with individuals transformed lives in a positive way. profession — government involvement, affordability, to name a few — can be terrifying. D’Youville has to train students who can adapt to change. Students who are “failure-proof.” “I see my role as a progressive one,” she says. “I have to have a vision for what’s going to happen in the next 10 years and make sure we aim toward that vision before a need arises.” “As a people-person and someone who is very compassionate, nursing seemed like a better fit for me. The majority of bedside interaction in healthcare comes from nurses — and that model of care better fit who I am.” Joshua Peters, 2025 BSN graduate A GOOD NURSE not only impacts a patient, they impact that patient’s loved ones as well. Sidney Domroes was a sophomore in high school when she learned her mother was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. Sidney was by her side for all of her treatments, her chemotherapy, her radiation treatments and her double mastectomy. “I wanted to be there, because I felt like I was at that age where I could help out,” says Sidney, a student in D’Youville’s RN-to-BSN accelerated program. “And I remember when I’d go with her to fusion treatments, I’d notice the nurses and how they were caring for her and interacting with her. And it stuck with me.” Those nurses were there for her mother during her initial bout and have been by her side since her rediagnosis in August 2024 (this time, Stage 4). They’ve gone beyond the bedside and appointment care — they’ve helped her find wigs after chemo, bras following surgery, support groups for her mental health and more. “I’ve known for a while that I wanted to go into nursing,” says Sidney, who started college at a different school in 2020, but struggled to find a fit in that program as she juggled her schedule, her mom’s schedule and the sudden death of her father in 2023. “I knew that if I wanted to get back into it, I needed an accelerated program, and that’s how I found D’Youville.”
