BVU and Spencer Hospital connect through Strategic Partnership
Strategic Partnership with Buena Vista University allows employees of Spencer Hospital as well as eligible family members of full-time employees, to receive grant funding to lower the overall cost of education while enrolled in classes at BVU’s Storm Lake campus and more.
Buena Vista University (BVU) and Spencer Hospital have joined forces as Strategic Partners to strengthen their communities and the people they serve.
This partnership allows employees of Spencer Hospital as well as eligible family members of full-time employees, to receive grant funding to lower the overall cost of education while enrolled in classes at BVU’s Storm Lake campus. Partner grant funding also lowers the cost per credit hour for students enrolled in BVU’s convenient online/hybrid undergraduate programs or the organizational leadership graduate program.
BVU professors and staff are also available for training programs, workshops, and more should officials with Spencer Hospital seek those services and expertise.
“Joining Buena Vista University through the Strategic Partnerships initiative allows Spencer Hospital to add a meaningful employee benefit,” says Spencer Hospital president Bill Bumgarner. “Offering our employees and their families more opportunities for growth through education makes our hospital and the communities we serve that much stronger.”
“I was well prepared to make the transition from undergraduate to graduate school thanks to the professors at BVU challenging me and wanting the best for me.”
Sarah Goodchild, Doctor of Physical Therapy
“BVU was beneficial in shaping my career choice,” says Sarah Goodchild, a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Spencer Hospital and a 2006 BVU graduate who majored in biology and played softball for the Beavers. “I was able to take a variety of courses within my major, and outside of my major, to be more well-rounded which allowed me to determine the best for my future. BVU was always progressive and making changes to improve the education of its students. I was well prepared to make the transition from undergraduate to graduate school thanks to the professors at BVU challenging me and wanting the best for me.”
The educational benefits offered by BVU are made even more accessible to employees of Spencer Hospital who work and reside in and around Spencer, which is home to a BVU office located on the campuses of partner Iowa Lakes Community College (ILCC) at Spencer, Emmetsburg, and Estherville.
For decades, BVU has enjoyed educational ties with community college campuses in those locations, working with students as they seamlessly transfer their credits toward their bachelor’s degree at BVU. Students receive personalized support including admissions and enrollment counseling and academic advising through BVU’s offices on the community college campuses serving ILCC.
Spencer Hospital, which employs more than 500 people, is guided by a vision of excellence driven by the core values of service, people, quality, and operations. Spencer Hospital offers quality healthcare services to people of Northwest Iowa and Southern Minnesota. In addition to providing a full-service hospital, Spencer Hospital operates a comprehensive cancer treatment center, an inpatient behavioral health center, a multi-specialty surgical center, three primary care clinics, and two satellite dialysis centers, one in Spencer and one in Spirit Lake.
“Buena Vista University is eager to partner with Spencer Hospital,” says BVU Director of Strategic Partnerships Laura Todd. “Providing educational benefits to enhance the skills of the dedicated caregivers of Spencer Hospital—and their family members—will help ensure that Spencer Hospital and the people it serves will be the best they can be.”
For more information about BVU’s Strategic Partnerships and partner opportunities, please visit the BVU website at bvu.edu/strategic-partnerships or contact Strategic Partnerships at StrategicPartnerships@bvu.edu.