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After months of renovation, Saint Mary’s College invited the community to visit the new Center for Integrative Healthcare Education (CIHE) located at Regina Hall on Friday morning. The event was part of a week to celebrate the inauguration of President Katie Conboy.
Prior to the visit, college administrators and faculty from the nursing department spoke about the centre’s impact on students and future patients in what was once the chapel space at Regina Hall.
Senior Vice President and Provost Titilayo Ufomata began the presentation by discussing how the Center will be used by all departments of health and behavioral sciences.
“Today we have a facility that provides students with interdisciplinary and interprofessional education with access to multidisciplinary simulation labs, classrooms and research opportunities,“ she said. “The first to move into the building was the Department of Nursing. Later, as the Center continues to expand, all of Saint Mary’s health and behavioral sciences will be housed here, including autism studies, social work, gerontology and speech therapy. .“
Saint Mary’s President Katie Conboy then noted how the Sisters of the Holy Cross have always used Regina Hall as a center of education.
“Since its inception, the Sisters of the Holy Cross have built Regina to house their novices, and this represented the intersection of the mission for the sisters and the College to form young women in the charism of the Holy Cross and educate them in view of doing the work of God. in the world,“ she said.
Conboy went on to describe how Regina still fulfills the Sisters’ original mission.
“Regina was then transformed into housing and education spaces for students,“ she said. “It is so fitting today that this building – while housing our students in the two towers – is once again transforming itself taking on its new role as the crossroads of education and health, which have both been pillars of the Sisters’ achievements.“
Commending the resources available to students at the Center, Conboy said she looks forward to student success in the future.
“State-of-the-art facilities will provide [students] with unparalleled tools, education and experience to make immediate impact and be leaders in contemporary healthcare,“ she said. “I look forward to seeing our students – undergraduate and graduate – and our faculty interact and learn in new and innovative ways.“
Conboy concluded by acknowledging the benefactors of the project, including the $ 1 million grant from Lily Endowment Inc.
“As Dr Ufomata mentioned, the plans for the Center have been in the works for years,“ said Conboy. “Thanks to the dedication of many people, we now find ourselves in this incredible space. The Lilly Endowment and their $ 1 million Charting the Future grant gave us the ability to take our dreams and make them come true in great detail.“
The president of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Sr. Véronique Wiedower offered a blessing on the new space, as well as on the people who will use it.
The Director of the Nursing Program, Dr. Sue Anderson, then expressed her deep gratitude for the Centre’s new technology.
“This building really means everything to the faculty and nursing students,“ she said. “We moved from Havican Hall where we had a very small simulation lab and a very outdated nursing skills lab,“ she said. “The addition of these top-notch nursing skills and simulation labs with state-of-the-art equipment elevates the Department of Nursing to the top of nursing programs in the Midwest.“
Anderson also stressed the importance of providing students with learning opportunities, especially as they enter a world that needs their skills.
“The educational opportunities offered by this establishment are invaluable,“ she said. “The investment in health care comes at a time in our history when our nurses must be highly qualified to meet the demands of a country in crisis.“
The public then toured the building with simulation labs, examination rooms, an 11-bed nursing lab, classrooms, faculty offices and student lounges. During the visit, nursing students and faculty members performed demonstrations on mannequins in the simulation lab rooms.
Taylor Murphy, an advanced nursing student, expressed her excitement about moving from Havican Hall to the Center to complete her studies.
“It’s so cool that we can be here because we were in Havican so we started our nursing education there,“ she said. “Even though it was a good setup, it wasn’t very high tech, so we did a lot of simulation.“
Murphy praised the technology built into nursing simulation mannequins, which allow students to practice many relevant skills.
“But now we don’t really have to pretend because the models are super high-tech,“ she said. “We can listen to their heart, lung, bowel sounds. We can change their heart rate. We can feel their pulse. It’s super realistic.“
Murphy said she was also impressed with how the Centre’s facilities would prepare her to work in real environments.
“The simulation rooms look like a hospital room,“ she said. “The examination rooms also look like real examination rooms, so I have a feeling that will make the transition to a hospital easier.“
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