Gift intended to enhance training for future health care professionals

Listen to this article

A retired administrator has pledged $100,000 to fund equipment and technologies at the Greenville Technical College Simulation Technologies and Training Center, creating the Dr. Barbara P. Lassiter STAT Center Lab.

Lassiter, once a nursing student and eventually Greenville Tech's vice president for development, said she was struck during a recent tour by the impact the center has on preparing nurses and other health care professionals.

“This is an opportunity for students to practice, learn in a safe environment, and practice again until they get it right,” Lassiter said in a news release. “In health care, you need the mind and the touch. This center ensures that the touch is practiced on simulators that mimic real life situations so that graduates can confidently deal with critical patients and uncommon symptoms when they encounter these situations in real life.”

The center, established in 2009, has 10 patient simulators representing patients from newborns to adults. There are also high-tech CPR mannequins that give objective feedback on the efficacy of skills performed by the learner, the news release said. The center is used by students in respiratory therapy, radiology, occupational and physical therapy, nursing, dental hygiene and dental assisting, and EMT/paramedic programs.

“We are grateful to Dr. Barbara Lassiter for giving so generously of her resources so that students can continue to prepare for real life in a simulated environment,” Ann Wright, vice president for advancement with the Greenville Tech Foundation, said in the news release. “As a former health care professional and leader at the college, she knows how important the hands-on component to education can be, and she is ensuring that we can create well-prepared graduates for many years to come.”