College Opens New Center

Shelly Lee, left, of Fayetteville and Jessica Abramson of Springdale check Friday on a pregnant dummy at the Center for Health Professions building at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. The school held a grand opening ceremony for the 83,000-square-foot building. Classes began in the new building Monday.

Shelly Lee, left, of Fayetteville and Jessica Abramson of Springdale check Friday on a pregnant dummy at the Center for Health Professions building at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. The school held a grand opening ceremony for the 83,000-square-foot building. Classes began in the new building Monday.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

At A Glance

The Building

The Center for Health Professions is slated to be NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s first LEED certified building. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is the third-party verification of environmentally efficient buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council. It recognizes projects working to improve environmental and health issues. NWACC is seeking LEED silver certification for the center.

Source: Staff Report

— A patient tells his nurse he can’t breath. She holds a stethoscope up to his chest to determine what is wrong.

It looks like a real hospital setting, but it’s a training exercise at NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s new Nursing Simulation Lab.

The community college celebrated the grand opening of its Center for Health Professions on Friday.

“We are thrilled at the many opportunities this new center will provide our current students and generations of students to come,” College President Becky Paneitz told more than 100 people gathered for the celebration.

The $14.2 million facility houses the nursing, respiratory therapy, physical therapy assistant, paramedic, emergency medical technician, fire science, certified nurse assist and patient care assistant programs.

Mary Ross, dean of Health Professions, said the new building allows the school to enroll more students and offer additional classes.

The school previously capped enrollment at 1,350 students. This semester began with 1,700 students.

The college is seeking approval to add a health information management program, and Ross said she hopes to start offering classes this fall.

Jim Lay, executive director of facilities and construction management, said he remembers when the nursing program began in the early 1990s in a former Western Sizzlin restaurant.

“At that time, we didn’t have any custodial staff so we were down there painting walls and putting up room dividers to make the space work,” he said.

The nursing program moved to Burns Hall on the community college’s main campus in 1995.

“The students are finally going to have the lab space they need,” he said.

Classes began Monday in the new 83,000-square-foot, three-story building. Lab work begins next week.

Lisa Law, a second semester nursing student from Centerton, said last semester all nursing students shared one classroom that had chairs in the front for lectures and lab space in the back. She said 40 people had to share four mannequins.

“It’s hard to share space with 100-plus people,” she said. “We had to practice on a lot of large teddy bears.”

Beth Davis of Little Flock, a fellow second semester nursing student, said the new space opens up new opportunities.

“I can’t wait to get into the lab next week for some real-life practice,” Davis said.

Barbara Maybury has taught at the college since it opened 23 years ago. She teaches obstetrics nursing.

“This setting is so realistic. It helps the student prepare for the real world,” she said.

Students will get hands-on training in 11 fully equipped bays. Labs include a mock emergency room, intensive care unit and obstetrics birthing rooms.

The Washington Regional Medical Center Nursing Simulation Lab features interactive mannequins that can be programed to give nursing students experience in more than 100 scenarios. Washington Regional donated $250,000 to the community college to help pay for the lab.

The space also contains a simulated ambulance where students can practice loading and unloading patients, giving them experience working in confined spaces. Students in other disciplines such as respiratory therapy also will take part in real-life simulations.

“This collaboration among students is those disciplines will represent practical training that reflects the true working environment,” Ross said.

The grand opening ceremony was held on the building’s unfinished third floor. Paneitz said that space affords the program room to expand.

She said health care is one of the top five job growth areas in Northwest Arkansas.

About 95 percent of all NWACC students come from Northwest Arkansas, and 95 percent of graduating students stay in the area, she said.

“We are training and educating the people that are here,” she said.

Paneitz also honored the late Jack Shewmaker and his family. Shewmaker donated $2 million to the college and said $200,000 was to go toward the nursing program. She said the student lounge is named the Shewmaker Family Student Lounge. Shewmaker’s son, Dan, serves on the college board