Wednesday was a special day for Lake-Sumter State College and the many nursing students who will takes classes there for years to come.
That’s because the college, along with the Lake-Sumter State College Foundation, dedicated the new Virginia Durand Nursing Simulation Center at the Health Sciences Center on the Leesburg Campus.
Thanks to a donation from Leesburg resident Robert Durand, the college was able to purchase a new high-fidelity manikin. Durand’s donation was in memory of his wife, Virginia, a longtime nurse who dedicated her life to helping others.
The addition of the high-tech manikin is important for the college because advanced simulation centers are increasingly becoming a vital part of the nursing curricula. Simulation education provides students with practical training experiences and serves as an important supplement to hands-on clinical experiences, officials said.
During a simulation, trained faculty members are able to offer students experiences that reflect the same kinds of situations registered nurses experience daily. And thanks to high-fidelity manikins that mimic human responses and current health care technology in realistic patient settings, nursing students have opportunities to problem-solve real-life scenarios without posing risk to real patients.
“This gift allows the college to continue to provide our nursing students with a high-quality education through state-of-the-art equipment and training experiences,” said Dr. Laura Byrd, associate vice president of institutional advancement and executive director of the LSSC Foundation.
Virginia M. Durand, originally from Maynard, Mass, retired to Leesburg with her husband, Robert. She was a 1951 graduate of Brighton Nursing School and worked at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., and several retirement homes. She was a lifelong member of the African Violet Society.
LSSC, which was founded in 1962, offers a high-quality education at an affordable price to the communities of Lake and Sumter counties. The college, which is part of the Florida College System, serves more than 7,000 students annually at three locations: Leesburg, South Lake (Clermont) and Sumterville.
LSSC offers a variety of certificate and degree programs designed to support and prepare students for today’s ever-changing workforce. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. And through a partnership with the University of Central Florida, students graduating with an associate in arts degree are guaranteed admission to UCF.
You can learn more about LSSC at www.lssc.edu.