Northeast Texas Community College held an Open House and Ribbon Cutting event on Thursday, Oct. 19th to celebrate its new Health Sciences Simulation Center.
The state-of-the-art facility opened in August for the Fall 2023 semester and offers health science students the opportunity to receive hands-on training in a realistic setting. It is housed in the former Physical Fitness Annex building on the north side of the NTCC campus that had been in disrepair for a number of years.
The Health Sciences Simulation Center features an ambulance bay next to a realistic-looking emergency room, a birthing suite with simulation manikins, virtual reality systems, a regular hospital room, a lab with a variety of high tech training equipment, a conference/meeting room, lockers and more.
"We went from having a tiny simulation lab in the University Health Science building to more than 4,000 square feet. This opens up so many training opportunities for students in all of our health science disciplines and we also look forward to hosting community healthcare partners at the facility," Dr. Marta Urdaneta, NTCC Dean of Health Science, said.
The renovation of the building was completed by local company, Stansell Construction. The project was largely funded by federal and state grants.
"To say that this is an improvement is a huge understatement. We are so pleased that we were able to take an existing, underutilized building and repurpose it into something that will enhance learning to such a degree," Dr. Ron Clinton, NTCC President, said. "Stansell Construction did a fantastic job transforming the space.
Terry Scoggin, CEO of Titus Regional Medical Center, and Guy Cayo, CEO of UT Health Pittsburg both
gave remarks about how the simulation center will help the community. In addition to training future healthcare professionals, it will also be used for a variety of continuing education training for current practitioners.
Representatives from the Mount Pleasant Titus County Chamber of Commerce and Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce were on hand to conduct the ribbon cutting, which was done by Connie Lindsey, Director of the Health Sciences Simulation Center.
To learn more about the health science programs offered at NTCC, visit www.ntcc.edu/healthscience
