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On a sunny Friday morning early last month, politicians, academicians, healthcare providers and community leaders gathered on the steps of the new Gordon E. Inman Center to formally christen Belmont University's new $22.5 million state-of-the-art College of Health Sciences and Nursing.

After years of dreaming about such a facility and 20 months in the active construction phase, the mood was ebullient as university officials showed guests the multiple classrooms, specialty labs and hands-on learning environments that are now available to students in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and social work.

Mayor Bill Purcell said Nashville has come to a point where it is "not afraid to dream the big dreams" as evidenced by the new Belmont facility.

Gordon E. Inman, who donated $10.5 million to the project … the largest gift in the university's history, was clearly emotional as he talked about what the day meant to the city, to Belmont and to future generations of healthcare providers.

"There really aren't any words this morning that I can use to describe how I feel," he said as he addressed the crowd outside the facility bearing his name. "But after much thought, I decided the word I wanted to use is 'joy.'"

Debra Wollaber, PhD, RN, dean of the College of Health Sciences and School of Nursing, noted the most common word she had heard from students who began taking summer school classes in the new facility a few days before its public opening, was "awesome."

"I think, Mr. Inman, that word goes right along with joy," she said with a laugh.

Despite the obvious lighthearted mood of the day, the fundamental purpose for the new center is much more serious in nature. Inman discussed his concern over the nursing shortage and said that his mentor, the late Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., had first introduced him to the gravity of the situation.

Wollaber and colleagues hope to begin to address the very issue of staff shortages in the disciplines they represent and to prepare nurses and therapists for an increasingly complex healthcare system.

"The world of healthcare relies on teams," Wollaber noted. "The setup of this facility allows nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and social workers to be taught side-by-side," she said, adding that as a result students would learn to think more globally about the entire spectrum of care.

After thanking many who had contributed to the project in a variety of ways, Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher singled out HCA and TriStar Health System, which gave $7.5 million toward the construction project and joined with Belmont to create the Partners in Nursing Consortium.

By utilizing the expanded capacity and working through the Partners in Nursing Consortium, Belmont officials project they will be able to increase enrollment from 250 to 600 students … a step toward alleviating staffing shortages.

With that, a giant "ribbon" made of blue gauze was cut, and the building officially opened to the public.

The four-story building contains a multitude of hands-on labs that recreate clinical work settings and state-of-the-art classrooms utilizing the latest technology.

"The Institute of Medicine has had such a push on safe patient care," Dr. Wollaber said. "This facility is designed for that … patient safety and worker safety, as well."

The academic center is outfitted with approximately $150,000 worth of simulation equipment, according to Wollaber.

"We have the technology that allows our students to improve patient care through their ability to practice on simulators that won't be harmed," she explained. "We have an intravenous simulator so closely approximating the human hand and arm; it's amazing," she added.

The center is clearly designed with an emphasis on "doing" rather than passively learning. The labs recreate clinical sites or "real world" experiences a patient will face. The Activities of Daily Living Lab, for example, recreates a home environment.

"Our health professionals need to understand the demands of moving a patient very close to the health insult (from the hospital) into their home," Wollaber noted. "For example, a patient can get out of their hospital bed, but how does that patient get out of bed at home? How do you teach a patient in a wheelchair how to do dishes or the laundry?"

The same hands-on concept is repeated in the other labs.

"We have healthcare professionals that work with people at the most vulnerable times of their lives," Wollaber concluded. "We have wanted to have a space that would enable occupational therapists, nurses, social workers and physical therapists to be able to learn in an environment that closely simulates the work environment they'll be in … what this day means is that we now have that environment."

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