ACADEMICS
ACADEMICS
Wegmans School of Nursing
Joining Forces Conference a Success
The Wegmans School of Nursing held its inaugural Joining Forces Conference on May 1314, 2013. The conference was created to promote the health of veterans, military personnel, and their families.
Wegmans School of Nursing
Building a state-of-the-art simulation center
Keynote speaker Lieutenant Colonel David M. Wallace, MD, MPH, Chief, Primary Care Clinic in Fort Drum, discussed “What’s Walking Through the Door: Relating to Members of the Military, Veterans, and Their Families.”
The 10,400 square-foot annex to the existing Wegmans School of Nursing building will include the state-of-the-art Glover-Crask Simulation Center. A recent grant from the Fred L. Emerson Foundation will outfit the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Obstetrics (OB) simulation rooms. The simulation experience complements the nursing students’ clinical rotations, thus reinforcing the experiential learning component of the nursing curriculum.
Wallace, a native of Rochester, spent three years in Germany during his first military tour. In 1999 he spent five months in Kosovo and has deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 10th Combat Support Hospital, and again in 2008-2009 with the 10th Mountain Division (LI) Headquarters as part of Multi-National Division South. He currently serves as the Chief of the Primary Care Clinic, Guthrie Army Health Clinic.
Lt. Col. David Wallace, Dr. Dianne Cooney Miner, President Bain, Dr. Douglas Bufano
During the two-day event, health care professionals consulted with clinicians, educators, researchers, and persons who have experienced physical and/or emotional conditions associated with military service.
The conference also featured Thomas W. Miller, Ph.D., ABPP ’65, Professor Emeritus & Senior Research Scientist, University of Connecticut, Center for Health, Intervention & Prevention; Professor, University of Kentucky, College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. He presented “Veterans Healthcare: Twenty-first Century Issues & Directions.”
“This generous gift from the Emerson Foundation will allow us to expand opportunities for clinical simulation in our new nursing addition. These expanded opportunities are an integral part of nursing education today, assisting students to build confidence and competence, and
challenging them to think in complex and complicated ways. The grant will help place our students at the forefront of nursing education and entry-level clinical competence, and position them as new leaders in professional practice,” said Dr. Dianne Cooney Miner, Dean, Wegmans School of Nursing Both the Emerson Foundation and the GloverCrask Charitable Trust are longtime supporters of St. John Fisher College. The annex to the existing 42,000 square-foot Wegmans School of Nursing building will also include classrooms, laboratories, and faculty offices to accommodate the growth in the College’s nursing program.
Bringing down the house
This was a regional initiative supporting the national “Joining Forces” effort led by First Lady Michele Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, which calls attention to critical health care issues facing members of our armed forces, our veterans, and their families.
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“Faculty members in the Wegmans School of Nursing recently made a commitment to address the issue of military cultural competence and to pay more attention to meeting the unique health and wellness needs of veterans and their families in course work and in the acquisition and dissemination of veteran-specific learning materials. The conference is one of the many initiatives already underway to support that commitment,” said Dr. Dianne Cooney Miner, Dean, Wegmans School of Nursing. Thomas Miller ’65 speaking to guests at the Joining Forces conference.
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ver 40 years ago, St. John Fisher College erected a facilities building on campus. It was intended to be a temporary building to house equipment and offices as the campus expanded under then president Fr. Lavery. Finally, at the beginning of this year, the building was demolished to make room for the School of Nursing addition. With the opening of the new Facilities Building in the northeast corner of campus, demolition of the former facilities building is complete. President Bain was glad to lend a hand in the demolition process.
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