By Mike Odom
Staff Writer

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — “There is a worldwide shortage of nurses,” said Dr. Debra Davis, dean of the University of South Alabama College of Nursing, during a dedication Thursday of the college’s new facility in Fairhope. “We’re doing our best to graduate as many highly qualified nursing professionals as we can to ease that shortage in our state and country.”

The new College of Nursing Complex on the campus of USA Baldwin County (North Section Street site) will help the university achieve that goal.

The grand opening of the 20,503-square-foot building included a tour of the facility. The most popular stop was iStan, a very lifelike human patient simulator.

As people came into the lab, they watched his chest rise and fall, felt for his pulse, and one person jumped when the mannequin they call Mr. Frederick blinked his eyes.

“It’s the dawn of a new era,” said Tom Meyer, a clinical assistant professor, proudly displaying the first civilian iStan human patient simulator in the country. “This is the first of its kind. it’s wireless and self-contained. There are 350 programs we can simulate.”

The new facility has two other computerized human patient simulators — a pregnant woman and a child — two large classrooms, a computerized testing lab, a special testing center, a learning lab and several faculty and staff offices.

But it was Mr. Frederick, or “Stan,” as he’s also called, who was the star. People felt his humanlike skin and heard about the medical problems he can simulate: heart attacks, seizures and gun shot wounds, to name a few.

They also learned how he will respond realistically to the kind of care he receives from student nurses, including talking back to them when they do something wrong.

Meyer said nursing staff can observe through a glass window and speak “for” Stan through a computer voice box, responding to what students do.

“If we see the students do something unpleasant, then we can scream like a banshee,” he said. “We can have him say, ‘That hurts.’”

The driving force behind obtaining the first civilian iStan in the country was Dr. Mike Jacobs, chairman of the adult health nursing department at USA, Meyer said.

“Our students are loving this,” Jacobs said. “He offers the students a lot of clinical situations and firsthand experiences that they would usually only get to observe. It’s a low-stress environment. We can do the simulations over and over again, slowing them down where we want, talking students through it, and then debriefing at the end.”

Jacobs said the first 12 human patient simulators were developed by METI, a Sarasota, Fla. company, and went to the military. The 13th came to USABC. The Mobile campus also has one now. Each one costs approximately $65,000, but with the necessary software and computer, the price for a working iStan is approximately $125,000, he said.

The new College of Nursing Complex is the third USABC campus site in Fairhope, said campus director Phillip Norris, during the grand opening ceremonies.

“Today is a really important day for two reasons,” Norris said. “The first is the opening of this beautiful facility. The other is that for the first time we have an advisory council. This new council will give the university advice on where we should go.”

Norris said the USABC Community Advisory Council will assist with strategic planning, help promote programs, support outreach programs and assist in fund-raising. Many members of the 15-person group were in the audience during the ceremony.

The members of the council and the area they represent are as follows: Tim Russell, state revenue commissioner (Foley); council chairman Tim Rosson, regional president, Compass Bank (Fairhope); Carolyn Doughty, president, Meyer Realty (Gulf Shores); Donna Watts, president, South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce (Foley); Fred Granade, attorney, Stone, Granade & Crosby (Bay Minette); David Sutley, president, Baldwin County BankTrust (Fairhope); Carmen Bosch, circuit judge, State of Alabama (Fairhope); Beth Craft, therapist, Baldwin County Mental Health (Gulf Shores); Dr. Lynn Yonge, physician, Bay Medical Family Practice (Fairhope); Rev. John Whitfield, pastor, New Zion Christian Church (Daphne); Kerry O’Connor, president, Whitney Bank (Fairhope); Ray Moore, vice president, Hutchison, Moore & Rauch (Fairhope); Rebecca Byrne, commercial sales and leasing, White-Spunner & Associates; and Aubry Fuller, board member, Baldwin EMC (Summerdale).

Norris said Davis deserves much of the credit for the success of the nursing program at the Fairhope campus.

“Things happen when Debra Davis is around,” he said. “She came over here in 2002, and this program is enormously successful because of her.”

Davis said USA graduated more nursing students that any college in the state last year. The nursing school at USA started in 1973, a master’s program was added a decade later, and a doctorate program last year, she said.

“There are over 1,000 students on this campus taking a number of different programs,” said USA president Gordon Moulton, referring to the total number of students on the Fairhope campus. “We look forward to a great future in this county and working with our advisory council.”

The Fairhope campus started more than 24 years ago with 76 students, a news release for the event stated. Norris said the student body has grown 73 percent in the past five years.

“We were bursting at the seams,” he said.

Mayor Tim Kant gave credit to the City Council for voting several years ago to make sure that the building went to USA. The new facility is located where the public library used to be, the west side of the Civic Center and City Hall complex.

“Thank you again for allowing us this space,” Davis said. “We are thrilled to be here.”

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