PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Florida Hospital Association said that by 2035 the state could be short more than 59,000 nurses.
To help with that problem, Indian River State College opened its brand new school of nursing Tuesday on the Pruitt campus in Port St. Lucie.
Dean Patricia Gagliano said the 50,000-square-foot facility will allow them to double the number of nursing graduates by 2025.
"So, by increasing the number of students we bring into the program, we can increase students that we graduate, and they can go to work right in the community and take care of us," Gagliano said.
Instructors and students are working with hands-on and virtual-reality lessons.
"This is a high-fidelity simulator that actually simulates clinical scenarios that the students see in the clinical setting," Dr. Roseann Maresca said as she stood in the new operating room.
There's also a hospice suite on campus so nurses can be trained for the very youngest patients, as well as the oldest.
"We can simulate an ICU. We can simulate an ER," Gagliano said. "We can simulate the transfer home, so we can do through the lifespan from home to home."
"I love being that helping hand for people that can't help themselves," first-year student Taylor Ceglio said.
Nursing students appreciate the new facility.
"Here we have not just the patient, but everything that's needed to take care of any situation that may arise during labor," second-year student Rufina Velazquez said.
Many of these students are already helping elderly family members.
"She's on oxygen full time, so I'm always helping her out," nursing student Kendyl Lowry said about her grandmother. "She's now living with us."
Local health care leaders said the impact here will be incredible.
"One of the biggest challenges for health care has been a sustainable workforce," Cleveland Clinic Tradition President Dr. Madhu Sasidhar. "There's no better way to create a sustainable workforce than to train them and develop them locally."
The first class of 120 students begins next week. The hope is that number increases to 300 in the next few years.
