Rep. Welch to visit new nursing facility and simulation labs at Norwich

For Immediate Release
Oct. 16, 2009

Contact: Daphne Larkin
802-485-2886
dlarkin@norwich.edu

Paul H. Heintz
Communications Director
Rep. Peter Welch (VT-AL)
202.226.8346(o) 202.577.7970(c)



NEWS RELEASE

Rep. Welch to visit new nursing facility and simulation labs at Norwich

NORTHFIELD, Vt. (Oct. 16, 2009) – On Monday, Oct. 19 at 1:45 p.m., Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) will visit Norwich University’s new nursing facility for a tour of the state-of-the-art simulation labs that were funded through a US Dept. of Education grant obtained by Welch.

The $335,000 DOE grant was used to purchase myriad teaching equipment including nine simulation mannequins; associated software to represent evidence based clinical practice; a computer driven medication delivery system to enable students to learn on high technology devices engineered to optimize patient safety in medication administration and various other high-tech equipment.

Norwich invested over $1 million to upgrade the building space to accommodate the brand new facility, which opened this fall serving 145 students in the undergraduate nursing program.

“By investing in this state-of-the-art nursing facility, Norwich University has once again demonstrated its commitment to training future leaders in the nursing profession,” Welch said. “Like many rural states, Vermont is projected to face a critical shortage of nurses in the near future. This expansion will help alleviate that shortage and improve the quality of nursing throughout Vermont.”

The new facility has already had a dramatic effect on the teaching opportunities for future nurses.

“This DOE grant represents more than just the addition of state of the art resources for our program,” said Valerie McCarthy, chair of the nursing department. “Since the start of the semester, the excitement and energy present in the students has been visible. Among our most important goals are to educate nurses for the military services and to alleviate the acute shortage of BSN nurses who will practice in the state of Vermont. We are grateful to Representative Welch for enabling us to contribute to these very important objectives with this wonderful grant.”


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Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army. Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States of America and the birthplace of our nation's Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).