MILWAUKEE_The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will mark the opening of a new, state-of-the-art facility designed to train the next generation of health care professionals with a ceremony and demonstration on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
While the James and Yvonne Ziemer Clinical Simulation Center went into use this fall, the university will formally showcase the 22,000-square-foot facility to students, faculty, staff, campus leaders and community members during the invitation-only event.
Reporters are welcome to cover the event from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1. The Ziemer Clinical Simulation Center is located on the third floor of the UWM Northwest Quadrant, Building B, 2015 E. Newport Ave.
Students, faculty and staff will offer demonstrations of technology used in the space starting at 5 p.m. Demonstrations will show how sophisticated medical manikins that talk, sweat and simulate breathing are used to train students to treat patients. One manikin can even simulate childbirth.
Chancellor Mark Mone and College of Nursing Dean Kim Litwack will deliver remarks at 5:30 p.m.
Attendees can tour experiential learning spaces that include staged hospital, surgical and intensive care units and labor/delivery rooms. There are also lab spaces and simulated settings for a clinic, as well as an apartment for training students in a home health environment.
The facility is named after three-time UWM alumnus and former CEO and president of Harley-Davidson James Ziemer and his wife, Yvonne, who donated $1 million in support of the College of Nursing in 2015.
“The need for transformation in health care is no longer something we should do; it has become something we must do,” Litwack said. She cited changing demographics, higher costs, a rise in chronic illnesses, racial and socioeconomic inequalities and emerging technologies as factors affecting how health care is provided.
“New solutions are needed,” Litwack said, “and the Ziemer Center will ensure that UWM remains at the forefront of educating our state’s frontline health care workers, researchers and administrators.”
She said the space will bring groups together for health care collaboration and interdisciplinary education opportunities.
Besides nursing students, the Ziemer Center will benefit those in other health-related programs including physical therapy and occupational therapy. It will be available to students from all three UWM campuses.
UWM student nurse demonstrations on Tuesday will include:
- using computer technology to control conditions and speech in the medical manikins
- inserting IVs and catheters
- accessing fall risks in the home environment
- using patient lift equipment
- responding with CPR to a “coding” in the ICU room
