Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson broke ground for a new education hub on Tuesday that will give its staff the tools to improve patient care.
According to a release on the hospital's website, the Center for Health Innovation & Education will be a hub for forward-thinking medical residents, experienced physicians, nurses, technicians and students to expand their knowledge and perfect their skills.
“Today’s groundbreaking is truly something extraordinary because it represents a new vision for our future as a healthy system,” said Henry Ford Allegiance President and CEO Georgia Fojtasek. “This new Center for Health Innovation & Education will be a hub for forward-thinking medical residents, experienced physicians, nurses, technicians and students from all over the country who are eager to expand their knowledge and perfect their skills. We will be attracting and retaining the highest-quality physicians and clinical staff to our community.”
The Center will be the ideal environment for:
- Training future health care providers
- Continuing the education of experienced physicians and clinicians
- Supporting community education programs
- Training EMS, fire and rescue teams and other first responders
The new, two-story addition to the Charles Anderson Building will house virtual examination rooms, classrooms, meeting spaces and offices. Most importantly, the Center will feature a technologically advanced simulation laboratory (SIM Lab) that looks and feels like actual inpatient and outpatient settings. Computerized mannequins in the SIM Lab will be programmed to simulate simple to highly complex medical issues and respond to treatment as a human patient would. This will allow learners to gain experience diagnosing and treating a virtually limitless range of diseases and conditions.
Henry Ford Allegiance Chief Medical Officer Ray King, MD, said, “Thanks to your support of generous donors, we will be turning a corner into a new era in medical education—virtual exam rooms, a simulation laboratory, computerized mannequins—will all be available. The students who come here will gain experience diagnosing and treating a virtually limitless range of diseases and conditions. And we will all be better for it.”
