Health Ed.

Health Ed.

Today I noticed someone on MetroLink wearing a St. Louis College of Pharmacy sweatshirt. I started thinking about just how many different educational institutions have health professions programs in the metropolitan St. Louis area. There really are quite a few!

Of course, everybody knows the WashU Medical School and the SLU Medical School.

But did you know:

UMSL has a College of Optometry and a College of Nursing, both located on the South Campus.

SLU also has the Doisy College of Health Sciences, which offers degrees in nursing (through the SLU School of Nursing) and a variety of related fields. And SLU has a School of Public Health. It's the only place locally offering the MPH degree, among other programs.

Although SLU and WashU closed their dental schools in 1970 and 1991, respectively, the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine still operates in Alton IL. It is a branch of SIU-Edwardsville, but located on the former campus of Shurtleff College, alma mater of the world's tallest man on record, Robert Wadlow.

SIU-E also has a School of Nursing, located on the main campus in Edwardsville IL.

Also in Illinois, McKendree College in Lebanon IL has a Division of Nursing.

While it's not part of Washington University, there is a nursing school affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital. (WashU closed its School of Nursing in 1969.) It's called the Jewish Hospital College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions. This is separate from the UMSL College of Nursing which used to be called the Barnes College of Nursing.

Webster University has a Nursing Department and a program in Health Services Management. (Yeah, I guess health care management isn't really a health care profession, but anyway...)

Maryville University has a School of Health Professions offering degrees in nursing and a variety of related fields.

Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey IL has an Allied Health Division offering degrees in nursing and related fields.

Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Granite City, and other locations has programs in nursing and other allied health fields.

St. Louis Community College offers its Nursing Program on each of its three campuses. Forest Park has a number of allied health programs. Flo Valley also has a paramedic training degree. Meramec does also.

St. Charles Community College has a nursing program.

Deaconess College of Nursing is still operating. Historically associated with the United Church of Christ, it is now owned by DeVry, Inc. It is attached to Forest Park Hospital (the former Deaconess Hospital) but some classes are held on the campus of Fontbonne University.

Lutheran School of Nursing is still operating. Historically associated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, it is now part of St Alexius Hospital - Jefferson Campus. This hospital was formerly known as SouthPointe Hospital, and before that Lutheran Medical Center.

While the Missouri Baptist Medical Center School of Nursing closed a few years ago, they still have something called the Clinical Nursing Institute located there.

And then there's the array of private diploma schools, like Sanford-Brown College, Missouri College, Vatterott College, Bryman College, and St Louis College of Health Careers. The value of those degrees may vary, but in any event they are one option that many people use to get career training / certification.

I'm sure I probably missed something, since I could only think to search for "nursing" and "allied health" programs. Nevertheless, its clear that training people for health careers is a big business in St. Louis. I'm no expert, but it's safe to say tuition costs and program quality vary widely. Choose wisely.