Hinds Community College Simulation Center
Ready to expand their simulation based education training and armed with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and CareerTraining (TAACCCT), Hinds Community College (HCC) sought to develop the Dr. George Ball Simulation Center for their Nursing and Allied Health Programs.
Designed by CDFL in the early 1960s, the original obstetrics and gynecology clinic was donated by Dr. George Ball’s brothers, Dr.Christopher Ball and Dr. Kyle Ball, to HCC for the development and expansion of their simulation programs.
Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons (CDFL) partnered with Dr. Libby Mahaffey, Dean of Nursing & Allied Health Center, and her staff on the vision and strategy for building a new facility within the donated real estate. The goal of the center was to create a setting that would specifically focus on enhancing professional competencies, experience specific clinical situations, and implementing interdisciplinary care.
Working within the existing fabric of the OBGYN clinic required some careful study, but yielded four flexible, high fidelity simulation labs along with an ambulance entrance, home based care lab, exam room lab, part task training, support, and administrative spaces.
“What is interesting about the spaces is that they are more focused on supporting care giving skills for faculty and students in acute care, longterm care, and other healthcare settings, in comparison to procedure based simulations” says Jessica Warren, Project Architect. “We have designed spaces to help train caregivers in a home like settings, such as a bathroom to simulate falls between the toilet and bathtub, which is not typically thought of as a healthcare environment.”
Photography by Hubert Worley