Odessa College will celebrate the grand opening of its new Wood Health Sciences Building with a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Sept. 10 on the second floor of the Wood HSB in the Community Room.
Following the ceremony, guests will have the opportunity to tour the new 83,000-square-foot building and experience all that the new facility brings to Odessa College health and sciences students and the future of healthcare and Permian Basin community.
Odessa College Associate Dean for Health and Sciences Lori Fierro-Iverson said she is excited about the grand opening.
“I am so ready for the community to see our students in the classrooms and labs. The students will be in class during the Grand Opening, so the tours will show the students and instructors functioning in their specific areas,” Fierro-Iverson said in a news release.
“The students love it, and what is even better is their after-class time,” Fierro-Iverson added. “The students are using the additional areas that are specifically designed for them to gather in and study and learn and collaborate together.”
The new Wood HSB’s first floor is home to the Medical Center Hospital Simulation Hospital and is set up just like an actual hospital where students will train and learn in a safe environment and gain the experience that will prepare them to be of immediate value to their employers in their new career fields.
“The Simulation Hospital is designed to look like the patient is at Medical Center Hospital. The training experience will include the first responders bringing in patients, and the different departments cooperating and communicating with each other as the patients make their way through the hospital as if it were the actual hospital,” said Ken Zartner, OC Vice President for Administrative Services.
The second floor of the new facility features a Community Room with a seating capacity of 450 and additional conference rooms that are available for use by the college as well as the community. The third and fourth floors accommodate classrooms, labs, offices, and study spaces. Located on the third floor are the Nursing, Respiratory Care, and Kinesiology programs, and on the fourth floor are the Surgical Technology, Radiologic Technology, Physical Therapist Assistant, Emergency Medical Technician and Fire Technology programs.
OC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Allisa Cornelius will open the official ceremony and be followed by speakers Brenda Denton of the Wood Family Foundation, Fierro-Iverson, JSA Architects President Cruz Castillo, Medical Center Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Russell Tippin, and OC President Gregory D. Williams.
