A grand opening ceremony was held Thursday for Georgian College’s new nursing and wellness wing at the Owen Sound Campus.
The event celebrated the the inaugural Honours Bachelor of Science nursing class and the new nursing and wellness wing.
The state-of-the-art facility will prepare students to meet the urgent need for well-educated registered nurses in the community.
A release from Georgian College says the $7.1-million renovation transformed over 10,000 square feet at the Owen Sound campus.
“This state-of-the-art Nursing and Wellness Wing provides space and technology for students in nursing, Personal Support Worker, Police Foundations, and other programs. Students will have the opportunity to work side-by-side in an inter-professional approach, just as they will in their future careers,” a news release from Georgian explains.
Numerous dignitaries were on hand including Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Rick Byers, Grey County Warden Selwyn Hicks, Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy, Georgian College President and CEO Kevin Weaver, Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Colleges and Universities and Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre, Grey Bruce Health Health Services President and CEO Gary Sims, and Georgian College supporters, faculty, staff and students in the first class of the four-year degree.
Georgian College President and CEO Kevin Weaver says the new nursing and wellness wing is an incredibly exciting and historic milestone for Georgian.
Guests tour one of the new labs while an Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing student explains the new simulation technology including high-fidelity manikins. (supplied image)
“We’ve created something special here at the Owen Sound campus, with programs geared toward meeting the needs of local employers and opportunity to strengthen our community connections,” said Weaver. “It was a community effort to get to this point, and today would not be possible without the hard work of our students, employees and the generous support from the local community, government and industry donors who went above and beyond contributing not only to the renovation of this campus but supporting new awards and bursaries for our students.”
In this purpose-built space, students will be able to expand their skills, react to complex patient scenarios, and have room to make mistakes and learn from them in safe, supportive and digitally-enabled labs.
The new wing also includes the addition of two flex skills labs, where students will interact with high-fidelity manikins and gain hands-on experience, inside real-life pods resembling hospital rooms and two high-fidelity simulation labs that emulate an Intensive Care Unit.
MPP Rick Byers says: “There’s been such great work on the facility. It’s an important investment by the college, and so important to have that resource right in our community.”
He adds,”as it gets established it will be a big drawing card and I know that there’s been a lot of students signing up for the program, so this is an important long-term development for our health care program in Ontario and certainly our community. I’m very excited about it.”
The new nursing wing was made possible through provincial government funding as well as community fundraising events and donations.
Great opening of the Georgian College Nursing & Wellness Wing today. Many thanks to @NataliePierre, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Colleges and Universities for joining us. A great day for healthcare in Owen Sound and our Grey-Bruce community! @georgiancollege pic.twitter.com/6EylDYABaK
— Rick Byers (@rickbyersmpp) September 23, 2022