Florida A&M University held a wall breaking ceremony for a new simulation lab in the Lewis-Beck Allied Health building on Friday. This was a success for the School of Allied Health Sciences. Many of the school’s administrators and students gathered to not only witness the wall-breaking, but to hear further information about the future state-of-the-art laboratory.
The ceremony speakers included Dr. Cynthia Hughes Harris, Dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences; Dr. Mary Copeland-Simmons, Director of the Cardiopulmonary Science Department; and Interim President, Dr. Larry Robinson.
Hughes explained to the audience that the school applied and received grant funding from Title III – a federal grant program that provided $5 million for the development of the simulation laboratory.
Hughes said that the simulators in the soon-to-be lab are technologically-based mannequins that simulate the human body, reflecting the same kind of physiological and orthopedic structures of the human body.
“Students will learn movement skills, breathing skills, and technical skills, on these simulated mannequins, before they get into the practice environment, with immediate feedback from their supervisors to guide them, support them, and make sure they’re doing it right.”
Words of encouragement and positivity were shared by the speakers when discussing the benefits that the laboratory will contribute to the program.
“We need everybody on deck, and we need everybody to be knowledgeable of how to take care of those patients,” Simmons said. “As a result of this exposure to the multi-disciplinary simulation activities, health profession students will have the opportunity to practice the skills of their respective profession,” she added.
Senior cardiopulmonary science student, Ciara Carr shared her excitement about the laboratory. “I’m excited about the sim-lab. I feel like it will be a great, new resource for the students, and it will put clinical experience- before working in the hospital- to good use.”
T’Erra Dale, graduate assistant and Volunteer Coordinator of the Student Occupational Therapy Association expressed her thoughts about the benefits of the laboratory.
“I think it’s going to be great as a grad student, because we need this before field work. We need to be able to work with this equipment and have that opportunity to bring clients [mannequins] here so we can simulate on them.”
After the ceremony, Hughes later stated, “Right now is about construction.” She went on to say that the projected time of completion for the laboratory is within the next four months. There is no exact date.
The location of the lab will be in the exact room that the ceremony took place – Room 009 of the Lewis-Black building, but will be combined with Room 011.