PORTERVILLE -- Sierra View District Hospital has joined with community colleges in the Valley to help to overcome a statewide shortage of registered nurses.

Since September, officials from the hospital and colleges have been working to develop a two-year RN training program.

Porterville College will begin its first training program in August with the start of the fall semester.

The program will be a collaborative effort among Porterville College, Bakersfield College-Delano and West Hills College. It is being funded by Sierra View District Hospital and West Hills College.

Through a combined effort of the three colleges and the hospital, the cost for the program is about $280,000, compared with about $600,000 if Porterville College developed the program and conducted the classes on its own.

All of the program's requirements, student policies, curriculum, application and selection processes will be the same as the Bakersfield College RN program.

The requirements meet the standards established by the Board of Registered Nursing in California.

Classes at Porterville College will be divided between live and broadcast classes. Class sizes will be limited to between five and 10 students. The live classes will have instructors from various nursing fields on campus and Sierra View District Hospital. Some class sessions will be broadcast from Bakersfield.

Bakersfield College and Porterville College are part of the Kern Community College District.

"The Porterville College program will be a satellite of Bakersfield's program that is noted for its high standards," said Valerie Lombardi, director of nursing at Porterville College. "It's exciting to bring to a rural area this type of program that has been needed for a long time."

Sierra View officials are also glad to have the local program available.

"Now that we have this program, I feel that we will be able to fill the gap in the nursing shortage at our hospital," said Kelly Morgan, chief executive of the Porterville hospital.