TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A group of health care professionals, including six people affiliated with The University of Alabama’s Capstone Rural Health Center, will begin staffing a temporary nursing station today in Carbon Hill to treat storm victims and members of the clean-up crews.

Kathleen Williams, a nurse practitioner and UA Capstone College of Nursing instructor who provides health care at UA’s center in Parrish, said the temporary nursing station will open in front of the Carbon Hill City Hall. Williams said the nursing station will remain open as needed.

Dr. Jeri Dunkin, professor of nursing, holder of UA’s Martha Saxon Memorial Endowed Presidential Chair and the health center’s project director, will also be on site as will two UA nursing students, other medical professionals affiliated with the Parrish center and other community health care providers.

Williams said the station will be equipped to offer simple health assessments and provide first-aid treatments and treatments for simple illnesses.

The Capstone Rural Health Center -- made possible by a $1.2 million Health Resources Administration grant to the UA Capstone College of Nursing -- opened in June 2001. It is a nurse-managed facility designed to improve health care access for Parrish’s community members and to enhance the education of UA’s senior and graduate-level nursing students by providing them with hands-on training. The UA students who will work at the Carbon Hill station are completing their clinicals at the Parrish center.

The Capstone College of Nursing, founded in 1976, graduates approximately 100 nurses a year from its baccalaureate program. Its graduate program for nurse case managers is one of the most innovative in the country. Partnerships with many of Alabama’s community colleges make obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s in nursing a realistic goal for registered nurses. With more than 450 students and 28 faculty, the College supplies RNs and nurse case managers to many Alabama health care facilities and others throughout the United States.