The public is invited to the grand opening of the Allied Health Building (AHB) on the Wor-Wic Community College campus on Wednesday, Aug. 17, at 10:30 a.m.
Local dignitaries are expected to join members of the board of trustees, state and county elected officials, students, alumni, employees and other friends of the college for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, refreshments and tours of the building.
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. provided construction management services and Richter Cornbrooks Gribble was the architect for the three-story, 53,000 square foot building, which is the new home for Wor-Wic’s emergency medical services (EMS), nursing and radiologic technology programs.
“The new building provides more technologically-advanced classrooms and laboratories for EMS, nursing and radiologic technology,” said Dr. Ray Hoy, president of Wor-Wic. “The high-tech laboratories will enhance the learning experiences of our students.”
Nursing students will have the opportunity to work with a variety of new computerized manikins with advanced simulation capabilities. The simulation rooms are equipped with up-to-date technology that will enable nursing faculty members to record students performing medical procedures on the computer-controlled simulation manikins. The instructors and students can review the recordings and critique their procedures.
“Simulation technologies, coupled with audio and visual enhancements, create a three-dimensional approach to learning,” Hoy said. “Until now, this valuable step in the learning process has not been available at Wor-Wic.”
The EMS laboratory contains the back of an ambulance, which replicates the environment graduates will work in as they transport patients to medical facilities.
A home care laboratory, which was originally designed for the occupational therapy assistant program that is not yet funded at this time, will be used by students enrolled in the EMS program. The laboratory, which is configured like rooms in a house, including bed, bath, living, dining and laundry rooms, as well as a kitchen, will be used by EMS students to practice responding to and removing patients from a home.
Students enrolled in the radiologic technology program will also have a new laboratory that includes an energized radiograph machine surrounded by lead-lined walls that can be used to take actual X-rays of manikins with organs and skeletal systems.
Anyone planning to attend the grand opening should call (410) 334-2810 by Friday, Aug. 5.