MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU Medicine has officially cut the ribbon on a new facility that will aim to train new nurses in the Mountain State.

WVU Health System President and CEO Albert Wright, along with Chief Nursing Executive Melanie Heuston and Assistant Vice President of Nursing Education Tanya Rodgers, was on hand for the ceremony on Thursday that signified the official opening of the new WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education. Wright expressed excitement over the opening of the facility that will have students begin taking classes in August.

“Our leaders that designed it thought of everything, not only classroom space but simulation space, Respit space, recharge space, you name it,” said Wright. “It’s a great reinvestment in an old building that we’re breathing new life into.”

According to Wright, the work undertaken to make the WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education a reality took place over the course of three to four years. This included expanding the space usage at the WVU Innovation Corporation on Chestnut Ridge Road in Morgantown and several months of programming and equipment procurement that took place with Hueston and Rodgers playing major roles in bringing it into the fold. With the facility aimed at increasing the number of working nurses in the Mountain State, Wright feels that WVU Medicine is in a great position to do just that.

“We have had a perpetual nursing shortage, and in time we realized that if we’re going to meet our two-part mission to improve the health trajectory of West Virginia, we need to significantly increase the supply of nurses,” Wright said.

Inside the WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education is an entire floor that simulates the operations of a full-service hospital. This includes close to a dozen simulation patient rooms with animatronic medical dummies set up in each room with varying degrees of race, age, and gender. Added to study spaces, onsite laundry facilities, as well as a mother’s room for students who may have a newborn while taking part in the 21-month program, WVU Medicine nursing administrators felt they created the perfect environment.

“We tried to think of everything because they’re going to live here, that’s what happens it becomes your home,” said Heuston on the mindset behind developing the Center for Nursing Education. “And we’ve had great architects and people helping us be thoughtful.”

For the first cohort of students who will officially begin classes on August 25, the WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education is considered a significant opportunity for several reasons. Along with the state-of-the-art simulation center that the students saw for the very first time, they also will also be provided with free tuition and free books as well as the amenities and support services that will be provided for the duration of their time in the program. With a three-year bedside employment commitment also a part of the offer, it was a no-brainer to take part in the opportunity.

“Since I’ve worked at WVU Medicine, I know how things run, and I knew that this would be a great nursing program,” said incoming Center for Nursing Education student Kate Towsend. “That they would train me to be the best nurse that I can be and then having the opportunity to work at WVU Medicine after completing the program was a no-brainer for me.”

The inaugural cohort of students for the WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education consists of 24 students, 16 of them are from the Mountain State.