Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences has officially opened at its brand new location in Johnson City.
Relocated to a former Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company factory, the renovations give the building a modern twist, with off-white walls and black window trim, while keeping the building’s original 1916 brick and pillars intact, according to Patti Reuther, director of the Innovative Simulation and Practice Center (ISPC).
Reuther said the ISPC has been the most anticipated aspect of Decker College’s new home. The ISPC houses numerous, flexible simulation rooms suited for multiple scenarios, such as an emergency room bed or a table in a functioning operating room. Each simulation room is fully stocked with medical supplies and contains life-size models of both adults and babies. Additionally, the ISPC floor has a fully functioning nurses station with stocked crash carts and a new home-care suite to provide students with various simulation experiences.
Reuther said Decker College outgrew its previous home in Academic Building B a long time ago. Mario Ortiz, dean of Decker College and professor in nursing, concurred by adding that the new location allowed for the expansion of all three schools in Decker College: Decker School of Nursing, School of Rehabilitation Sciences and School of Applied Health Sciences.
“The School of Applied Health Sciences encompasses our existing programs in public health and health and wellness studies and will include new programs in health sciences once they’re developed,” Ortiz wrote in an email. “In public health, we offer a master’s of public health (MPH) degree, and we’re adding a 4+1 program that will combine any Harpur College [Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree] with an MPH degree. In health and wellness studies, we offer a minor, and we’re developing additional minors. In the future, we intend to offer degree programs in health sciences with concentrations in areas such as forensic health, health promotion, health education, nutrition and exercise science.”
The new programs the School of Rehabilitation Sciences plans to offer are currently under varying stages of review, Ortiz said.
“Our School of Rehabilitation Sciences encompasses the three divisions of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology,” Ortiz wrote. “We’re developing a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree, two doctor of occupational therapy (OTD) programs — one at the entry-level and the other a post-professional program — and a master of science in speech-language pathology.”
The new building will also be the sole location of Decker College’s advising office. Reuther said this should not be an inconvenience to students, as the space contains countless study nooks that students will want to utilize and is accessible via Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) blue buses. It shares a bus stop with BU’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS), as the buildings are only one block apart. Reuther said SOPPS students have migrated over to use the building’s study spaces and eat, since Decker College has a Sodexo presence and SOPPS does not. Other amenities included in the new location are a Starbucks, a breastfeeding room, an IT help desk and a spiritual room.
Now one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Ortiz said the new space has provided students with opportunities they would have otherwise missed out on.
“One of the challenges of the pandemic has been the significant impact on access to live clinical experiences for undergraduate nursing students,” Ortiz wrote. “The ISPC fills the gap caused by missed in-person clinicals with skills practice and patient-simulation experiences. This semester, we have the junior nursing students participating in weekly activities, such as skills verification like sterile procedure and medication administration, new skills such as IV therapy and patient simulations that align with course content.”
Students have been responding positively to the new facility, Ortiz said. With undergraduate admissions seeing a 33 percent increase in applications to Decker College [link https://www.bupipedream.com/news/120078/auto-draft-818/], Ortiz said he has high hopes for the future.
“I envision a future Decker College that has a solid reputation nationwide for research in all our divisions, that continues to provide high-quality educational programs for a diverse range of students, that delivers outstanding simulation education for students and other health care professionals, that collaborates with and serves the local community and that is an inclusive, welcoming place for all our students, faculty, staff and alumni,” Ortiz wrote.