A brand new medical facility is now open at Triton College, offering technology and resources that school officials believe will prepare students for medical careers better than ever.
The college’s new $16 million Health and Science Facility, which occupies the college’s H Building on the northwest side of Triton’s campus, offers traditional classrooms for medical-related courses, but also new spaces for hands-on and simulated instruction.
The new facility was unveiled to the public, students, teachers and elected officials at a ribbon-cutting event Sept. 29.
Triton College Board Chairman Mark Stephens said it took a while to get the funding needed to start the project. About 75 percent of the new facility was paid for by a grant.
“It’s a very exciting day that we have long anticipated,” he said.
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He pointed to a large group of students at the ceremony wearing medical uniforms.
“That’s really the reason why we’re here today,” he said.
Triton College Board Vice Chairman Donna Peluso said the students are excited about the improvements made to the 70,000-square-foot building.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “We waited a long time for this. It’s state of the art. The kids are so excited and this is what it’s all about.”
Students at the ceremony wore medical uniforms to along with the new look of the renovated building: It now looks more like a hospital. The building features large picture windows through which students can be seen doing work, rooms that have operating tables with life-size human models on them, medical beds put together like a recovery area in an actual hospital, and new medical technology throughout the building.
Peter Jaswilko, dean of health careers and public service programs at Triton, believes what has been done at the H Building will make graduates well-qualified for work in hospitals.
“The addition of space and laboratory equipment will be integrated into the curriculum and make it more real for the students,” he said.
Students studying nursing, surgery, nuclear medicine and other medical fields can now get hands-on experience at the college through computer and lifelike human model simulation.
“We are going to be able to guide people and reintegrate this [new technology] into lesson plans and curriculum and embrace the technology so we can utilize this to the fullest capacity,” Jaswilko said.
Megan Kintner, 25, of North Riverside, who’s studying at Triton to be a surgical technician, worked with a group of fellow students on a lifelike human model, cleaning the part of the model to prepare it for “surgery.”
Teri Junge, surgical technology program coordinator at the college, said the area where students do their work looks like a real operating room.
“It looks like they’re in an actual hospital, rather than a school,” she said. “We simulate what would happen in an actual hospital.”
The simulations prepare students for the expected — and the unexpected — that may take place when dealing with a patient on the operating table, Junge said.
“We’re taking it to another level where you have actual patients at stake,” she said.
Kintner said Junge doesn’t cut any corners when instructing students.
“Miss Junge is very critical,” Kintner said. “She’ll watch and critique you, and if you make a mistake, she will call you on it.”
Kintner said she enrolled in the program because she has a child and needed to get her career started quickly. She’s looking forward to participating in actual surgery one day.
“I’m not afraid of blood,” she said. “Once you’ve had a kid, you’ve seen it all.”
Jasmine Reed, 19, of Maywood, who’s studying to be a nursing assistant, is looking forward to classes in the new facility.
“I’m ready,” Reed said. “The new technology will help us learn more.”
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