HEALTH

it in and put that environment in the room,” said Dennis Edgerly, director of the EMS academy.

e simulation room will have the ability to create wind to simulate tra c going by, environmental sounds, smells and even smoke to create a realistic scenario for students to practice.

e renovation project also includes expanding the capacity of instructional classrooms and adding more beds to nursing classrooms.

Interdisciplinary collaboration rough these improvements, ACC leadership hopes to create more opportunities for interdisciplinary learning, to better train healthcare students to work with others in the eld.

“How do we help our students not only learn how to do the job they’re doing, but how do they interact with the other professionals around them?” said Calhoun. “How do they develop communication skills, how do they develop the soft skills and empathy skills that they need to be able to work actually in the careers that they’re choosing?”

In future stages of the Health Innovation Center project, Calhoun said ACC hopes to build a streetscape with a hospital, a two-story townhouse and an ambulance bay for students to do interdisciplinary simulations in a variety of environments, with EMT students, nursing students and even criminal justice students working on the same situation together.

At the event, Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, highlighted how the renovations will help support the students coming to ACC through the state-led Care Forward Colorado program, which provides free community college tuition for aspiring healthcare workers statewide.

At ACC, students can get EMT, medical assistant, nurse aide, paramedic preparation, phlebotomy and more certi cates through Care Forward.

Looking forward to the future of healthcare in Colorado, Chancellor of the Colorado Community College System Joe Garcia said programs like the Health Innovation Center at ACC are just what the state needs.

“It’s great not just for the students, but it is great for Colorado because we know we have a shortage,” he said. “Some of us baby boomers are not going to be in the workforce but we’re going to need good health care providers, trained healthcare providers, diverse health care providers — that’s what we can do better than anybody else.”

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Drop by 17 Mile House Farm Park and discover how animal wool is spun into the sweaters we wear. Featured activity: try wool carding by hand and dye your own sheep’s wool!

17 Mile House Open House

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