LewisGale Regional Health System wants to help solve the nursing shortage.
Its parent company, HCA Virginia opened the Galen College of Nursing in Roanoke in 2023. And this week, it unveiled the HCA Healthcare Center for Clinical Advancement — a nearly 6,000 square foot simulation center next door to provide nurses with more detailed training for specific scenarios.
"You get to do these complex scenarios that allow you to really step back and think about what's the care I'm delivering, what can I learn from it, and how can I do it to the best practice," says Erin Keister, chief nurse executive for HCA's Capital Division. "It can be anything from our sepsis care, when a patient comes in with sepsis, [or] a stroke alert, when a patient comes in and they're having signs of symptoms of stroke. We have simulation that includes mannequins that can go into labor."
Others react in different ways and even communicate symptoms through a microphone. In one room, Benjamin Gray demonstrates with a mannequin voiced by Larry Bartley.
"Hector, my name's Benjamin. How are you doing today?"
"Eh, I don't feel good."
"You're not feeling good? Tell me what's wrong."
"Well, I...," and the mannequin erupts in a coughing fit.
Keister says the new center demonstrates HCA's commitment to patient care — not just in Roanoke, but in Blacksburg, Pulaski, and Alleghany County — all communities where it maintains hospitals.
"HCA is committed to our rural healthcare facilities" Keister says. "And I think this just shows our commitment, where we have placed a facility her in the middle of Roanoke County so that all of our hospitals in southwest Virginia can benefit."
The center cost $2.4 million and will be open to more than 900 nurses and clinicians across western Virginia.
