After 16 years in operation as the Center of Nursing Excellence at the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (CNE@SVHEC), the healthcare training facility and simulation lab has been rebranded as the Healthcare Training Hub. The new name was announced at a recent rebranding ceremony, and reflects a broader focus on training for health careers beyond nursing.
When the CNE was launched in 2008 its primary focus was on addressing the nursing shortage that was plaguing the region. Partnering with Southside Virginia Community College and Danville Community College, the CNE provided access to nursing education programs and hands-on simulation training. Today, nurses who have been trained at the CNE serve throughout the region in a variety of capacities and healthcare settings.
“Together, we have provided many of the nurses that now populate our region’s hospitals, clinics, medical practices, home healthcare, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. Nursing, however, is not the only healthcare profession that is in short supply. By rebranding as the Healthcare Training Hub, we are signaling our intention to expand to provide training for those jobs as well. Like nursing these are well paying jobs that will allow our folks to stay in the community,” said Dr. Betty Adams, SVHEC Executive Director.
In the past three years, SVHEC has made equipment upgrades and worked to bring in new healthcare training opportunities. In 2022, SVHEC completed a $500,000 “refresh” of its simulation manikins and audio/visual equipment to support training opportunities in key topics including resuscitation training, pediatric patient care, and emergency patient care and trauma. An expanded partnership with Danville Community College brought two new healthcare training programs—Emergency Medical Technician and Certified Clinical Medical Assistant—to SVHEC.
“Our hope is that the Healthcare Training Hub can be a tremendous asset in assisting in meeting the training needs of the healthcare workforce and feel like a welcoming training facility for all healthcare professions. Through the use of our facilities, high fidelity manikins and state of the art equipment including audio/visual cloud-based products it is our hope that we can help better equip our healthcare students, professionals and even our community in providing safe and quality care,” said Kimberly Throckmorton, Healthcare Training Hub Manager.
To learn more about the Healthcare Training Hub visit www.svhec.org/healthcarehub. To schedule a visit to tour or to learn more about training opportunities for your group email or call 434-572-5443.