[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16039]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO'S NURSE PRACTITIONER PROGRAM'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

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                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 2015

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the 50th anniversary of the 
University of Colorado's Nurse Practitioner program. In 1965, CU 
College of Nursing professor Loretta Ford and CU School of Medicine 
professor Henry Silver came together to create the nation's first nurse 
practitioner training program. Motivated by a desire to increase access 
to pediatric care in underserved rural and urban communities, they 
sought to expand and empower the role of nurses on the front lines of 
health care. Their efforts led to the establishment of the nation's 
modern advanced practice nursing workforce.
  Their idea caught fire in 1966 when Time Magazine profiled one of the 
programs first graduates, Sue Stearly, who was successfully practicing 
in the small town of Trinidad, Colorado. Time called CU students ``a 
new breed of nurse.'' By 1973, sixty-five nurse practitioner training 
programs existed across the country. Today there are more than 205,000 
nurse practitioners in the United States making more than 916 million 
patient visits per year according to the American Association of Nurse 
Practitioners. Today's nurse practitioners diagnose and treat patients 
in a variety of primary, acute, and specialty care settings. They are 
essential to meeting this country's healthcare workforce needs. 
According to Colorado Health Careers, within the next decade, nurse 
practitioners and clinical nurse specialists will be among the nation's 
ten fastest-growing occupations. Nurse practitioners from the CU 
College of Nursing are at work across America. The College of Nursing's 
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program continues to be one of the 
strongest in the country, and today the college leads the way with a 
variety of specialized nurse practitioner programs in fields such as 
psychiatric mental health and women's health.
  On October 2nd, the CU College of Nursing, along with the CU School 
of Medicine, celebrated the 50th Anniversary of their groundbreaking 
Nurse Practitioner Program. I invite you to join me in honoring the 
efforts of pioneering educators Loretta Ford and Henry Silver, who 
helped to spark this remarkable change in American medical care.

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