SCC to Host Health Professions Center Ribbon Cutting, Open House October 28

10/13/2016

West Burlington, IA – Southeastern Community College will host a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house for its new Health Professions Center on the West Burlington campus at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 28. The event is free and open to the public.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m., with the open house immediately following. Visitors can tour the new Health Professions Center, talk with faculty, staff and students, and get an up-close look at the new teaching technology used in SCC’s health professions programs.

The Health Professions Center is the product of nearly three years of work by a long list of college officials and community partners.

“We began this process back in 2013 with a feasibility study that asked residents throughout the region about the most pressing community needs that SCC could help address,” explains SCC President Dr. Michael Ash. “The number one response was for us to provide more skilled health care professionals, so that’s where we focused our energies first.”

SCC Director of Nursing Kristi Schroeder adds that SCC health program grads are highly respected and sought-after throughout the region. “If you’ve ever visited a healthcare facility in the area, chances are you interacted with one of our grads, so making sure our grads are as prepared as possible to enter the field is critical.”

The Health Professions Center features state-of-the-art healthcare training technology and equipment that give it the feel of a virtual hospital. Key components of the facility include the Clinical Simulation Center, a patient simulation lab containing realistic patient manikins of a man, woman and child, the EMS  Lab featuring a stationary working ambulance and mock apartment, and a specialized student collaboration classroom.

SCC currently offers programs in Emergency Medical Services, Medical Assistant, Medical Coding & Billing, Medical Scribe, Nursing, Nurse Aide, Paramedic, and Respiratory Care. It also provides continuing education classes in a growing number of specializations including Phlebotomy, Medication Aide, and Medication Manager.

“We’re fortunate to have this caliber a facility here in southeast Iowa,” notes Schroeder. “During our planning stages, we toured facilities across the state to determine what we wanted to have in ours. Now that it’s complete you’d be hard-pressed to find a better facility.”

The Health Professions Center is the first facility to come online as part of SCC’s current Building the Dream campus expansion initiative and is phase one of a new Health and Sciences Complex. Construction of the second phase, the Hall of Sciences, is set to begin next spring. A third facility of the Building the Dream initiative, the Industrial Technologies Training Center, is currently under construction on SCC’s Keokuk campus.

With a total price tag of $27 million, Building the Dream is the largest infrastructure investment undertaken by SCC since 1995.

For more news or to learn about Southeastern Community College, visit: https://www.scciowa.edu/rss/news/index.html