By Richard Duke

June 7, 2007… An expansion to the Jefferson Regional Medical Center School of Nursing will house a new skills laboratory, which will give students more hands-on approach to their education.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday at the school to begin the first phase of work on an expansion of a high tech simulation and skills lab, according to Lisa Rowland of the JRMC Marketing Department. The lab will also include a “sim-baby,” a computerized doll that will portray various symptoms to be diagnosed by the students.

“What’s important about the lab is that it will really provide our students more exposure to what they would actually be doing in the work force,” Rowland said. “It is something that is needed here.”

THe 3,500 square foot expansion will take nearly 10 months to complete, and the phased construction will include an area of remodeling within the current school.

Rowland said the extra space and new areas are needed because of the growing interest in the nursing field. Since 1981, more than 800 people have graduated from the program, and Rowland said that more are looking at the field because of its reliablity in job placement and its growing field of opportunities.

“New nurses are not just sticking within hospitals and health care facilities,” she said. “There are places within other types of industry and independent companies that need these individuals.”

She also said that many are looking at nursing as a second career, mainly because a degree can be obtained in 28 months, and it is involving more technology-based careers.

“We really are the point of choice for those in Southeast Arkansas, “ Rowland said. “People do not need to travel all the way to Little Rock for school, and with this expansion, we hope to be even more attractive.”

The addition is expected to be completed by late Spring 2008.