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Peavys' Gift to Nursing
9/23/2008
 Carol and Odis Peavy have fulfilled a promise and a personal dream to help the University of St. Thomas reopen the School of Nursing, which closed more than 20 years ago.
To achieve this goal, the Peavys, owners of PV Rentals, have generously donated $2.5 million. Their gift will provide operating support, establish an endowment fund and enable the University to begin a national search for a director of nursing.
As a former nurse and a former St. Thomas Nursing School faculty member from 1980 to 1982, Carol spent much of her professional career in the medical field. Despite the Peavy’s legacy of philanthropy, Carol said, “… when I hear the word “donation,” I think about livers, hearts, and organ donors because I still think like a nurse. Since St. Thomas had to close the nursing school in 1986, we have been waiting for the right time for the University to open the doors again. With the demand for nurses, there has never been a better time. I made a promise to Sister Mary Martina Casey, the former dean of the School of Nursing, that I would not give up until St. Thomas was educating nurses again.”
The University of St. Thomas graduated 423 nurses from 1972 to 1986 when the School of Nursing closed due to plummeting oil prices and the resultant downturn in the local economy.
“The University of St. Thomas is very fortunate to receive the backing of longtime friends and benefactors Carol and Odis Peavy to begin Phase One on our three-phase project,” said UST President Robert Ivany. “Their generosity allows the University to begin planning, preparing and fundraising,” “For the next two to three years, St. Thomas will seek the support of, hospitals, foundations and Houstonians who realize the tremendous shortage of nurses and how UST can contribute to easing that impact on our community.”
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, our nation, the state of Texas and the Houston area face a critical shortage of nurses. National projections suggest that within the next few years these distinct shortages will increase due to the aging nursing workforce (average age of practicing nurses in the U.S. is 47), aging nursing faculty (average age of nursing faculty is 57) and an environment of increasing health care needs with a growing and aging population.
By 2020, Texas will be short 83,600 registered nurses to fill its expanding hospitals. At present capacity, nursing schools in Texas can only meet 59 percent of anticipated demand. There is an even greater shortage of nurses who can carry out their professional responsibilities imbued with Catholic values and principles. Presently, there is only one school of nursing in a Catholic institution of higher learning in Texas.
“St. Thomas has the potential to educate nurses with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees who appreciate the values of our Catholic, Basilian institution,” Ivany said. “We dedicate ourselves to preparing our nurses to become caring leaders of faith and character like all our graduates. Caring for the sick complements our unique mission. As a faith-based institution located only minutes from the Texas Medical Center and other hospitals and clinics, we can provide the highly educated and inspired nurses who are in such great demand.”
During Phase One, the University will raise $20 million to endow the School, hire a director of nursing, prepare for accreditation and begin faculty and student recruitment. During Phase Two, the University plans to secure facilities, hire faculty, and accept undergraduate students for a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. Phase Three will include the acceptance of graduate students leading to a Master of Science Degree in Nursing.
UST acquired the nursing program from the Dominican College in 1972. Dominican College and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who owned St. Joseph Hospital, established the program in 1959. Before moving the program to Dominican College the Sisters of Charity, had established the St. Joseph School of Nursing, Houston’s first nursing school in 1905.
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