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Date: 1/11/2023
WESTFIELD — Westfield State University is set to receive $1 million from the $1.7 trillion federal spending package signed by President Joe Biden at the end of December.
The $1 million will be used for the nursing and health sciences programs and to provide “a space for healthcare practitioners from both academia and practice sectors to explore, design, and prototype solutions to current healthcare gaps,” according to a university spokesperson.
In particular, the funds will be used to bolster and add to the university’s “simulation spaces” that are used for training in the nursing and health sciences programs, centered largely in the Dr. Nettie Maria Stevens Science and Innovation Center. One such addition will be what the university calls “community simulations” which will allow nursing and health sciences students to practice everyday home-based and community care in more practical settings.
“It is a simulation for students to find a way to work with patients on daily activities, such as going to the bank,” said Westfield State University health sciences Chair Dr. Jennifer Hixon. “Using an ATM, how to approach the ATM, how to get up the curb. If it is somebody who is visually impaired, or all types of disabilities and medical problems.”
Hixon said it would also feature items like simulated apartments where students can practice transferring a disabled person from a chair to a bed, and other everyday actions that are made more difficult with disabilities.
University President Linda Thompson said that talks are still taking place to figure out where the simulations should physically be located. It could be somewhere directly on the university’s Western Avenue campus in Westfield, she said, but the university also is receiving funding from Baystate Health to build a partnership with Springfield Technical Community College.
“We are looking for a way to marry the various funding streams we have gotten to do this in the best way,” said Thompson. “We are looking both here, as well as looking at a way to marry this relationship, and how to create a simulation to meet the needs of more than just our campus.”
Hixon noted that the simulation spaces at Westfield State University help train medical personnel on all levels with working as a team. She cited the treatment given Jan. 2 to Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin, who suddenly suffered cardiac arrest during a nationally televised football game. Training staff worked together to resuscitate Hamlin on the field, and he survived after then having been on a breathing tube for several days.
“It was the trainers, and the 22 doctors,” said Hixon. “It was the trainers who gave CPR right away before the doctors came and intubated him. … That is a team that is hard to teach when you are just teaching in your own silo.”
Thompson said that the $1 million in funding came out of conversations she had with U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, who represents Greater Westfield and also chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.
“When I first came to the campus, I started reaching out to elected officials and community leaders, and one of those people was Congressman Neal,” said Thompson. “I talked to him about the need for healthcare providers. We had just gone through this whole issue of COVID[-19]. We right now are in desperate need to grow the healthcare workforce.”
The coronavirus pandemic did have a tangible impact on the healthcare and nursing fields. Along with many universities nationwide that offer nursing programs, Westfield State University saw a decline in the number of people enrolling its healthcare programs after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the [coronavirus] pandemic put a light on how hard it is to be a nurse,” said Nursing and Allied Health Department Chair Marcia Scanlon. “We are hoping that now that things have settled and the image is back out there and people see how wonderful the profession is, enrollment will go back up.”
Thompson, who herself has served in public health in many capacities before her tenure at Westfield State University, said that she hopes people can see that nursing is not a singular type of profession, but can actually take many forms beyond what was featured most prominently during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It provides so many opportunities for a broad career. It is not one thing, it is multiple things,” said Thompson. “The salaries are robust and healthy, the quality of life you can achieve is good.”
One thing Thompson wants educators to work toward is building pathways for younger students who are interested in the medical fields.
“Starting with high school students and preparing them for this kind of career and providing them with the tools as a high school student so they can be successful,” said Thompson. “How do we look at education in a different way and help people who have aspirations to do these jobs get the best quality education starting in high school?”