Mount Marty College to Host Open House for New Avera Nursing and Simulation Center
October 8, 2018
YANKTON, SD —Mount Marty College (MMC) will host an open house Oct. 11 to celebrate the opening of the Avera Nursing and Simulation Center. The event, from 4 – 5:30 p.m., will take place in the new $1.7 million facility — housed in the Avera Science and Nursing Complex on MMC’s Yankton campus — and will provide the public with an opportunity to view the new facility.
A short program is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will feature comments from Mount Marty College and Avera Health representatives.
Though students have been using the center since the start of the fall semester, the Oct. 11 event comes almost one yearto theday after Avera Health’s 2017 announcement that they would provide MMC with the $1 million gift that helped make the facility a reality.
One of the center’s premier upgrades is a state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab. The new simulation system will provide the flexibility needed for in-depth hands-on training in a variety of healthcare situations ranging from basic health assessments to advanced life support. The simulators are mobile and may be moved to different settings, enabling MMC faculty to provide controlled, on-site training for scenarios such as athletic injuries or car accidents.
MMC President Dr. Marc Long says the center will be a boon to the College’s nursing students as well as the community. “This is an important step forward for healthcare education and training in Yankton and throughout the region; both undergraduate and graduate nursing students will learn in the center. Also, practicing healthcare professionals from the Avera Sacred Heart region will use it for in-service training, as well as Yankton-area first responders,” said Long. “We are thankful to Avera Health and the dozens of donors who contributed to make this vision a reality, and we welcome the community to join us as we celebrate this exciting day.”
“Our sponsorship of the Nursing and Simulation Center supports education and future health care workforce. By supporting innovative, state-of-the-art training technology, we support quality health care in Yankton and throughout our region, particularly in rural communities,” said Doug Ekeren, CEO and Regional President of Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton. “Through the Benedictine Sisters, Avera shares a similar heritage with Mount Marty College and a similar sense of mission to serve the people of this region. We’re proud to partner with Mount Marty College on training health care professionals and we look forward to seeing the positive impacts that will come as a result.”
For more information about the Avera Nursing and Simulation Center contact Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Dr. Mary Krogh at 605-668-1206 or Vice President for Advancement Barb Rezac at 605-668-1292. For more information about nursing and health-related programs at Mount Marty College visit www.mtmc.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/.