Powering Lehman College’s commitment to fighting health inequality in The Bronx and beyond, Lehman proudly opened its new $95 million, 52,000 square foot Nursing Education, Research and Practice Center with a crowd of state, city, and CUNY officials on hand to celebrate.

Designed by Urbahn Architects, the facility spans four levels, creating additional instruction and hands-on lab space to meet the growing need for healthcare workers especially for underserved communities in The Bronx and Westchester.

Joining Lehman President Fernando Delgado and CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez were Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, elected officials, and Professor Emerita of Nursing Catherine Alicia Georges, who previously chaired the department for many years. Despite the frigid weather, they were welcomed by a crowd of nearly 200 people.

"The opening of our new Nursing Education, Research, and Practice Center represents our commitment to our students, our community, and our city,” said Fernando Delgado, Lehman College President. “In what can be considered a critical and important time in healthcare, offering students hands-on training is essential in preparing them as they go into practice, to ensure they can deliver the best possible care to their patients. We celebrate this opening and look forward to developing and nurturing future generations of qualified and skilled nurses in our new facility."

The Center is poised to make a critical difference to both the College and the community: with 1,000 students, nursing is one of Lehman’s largest majors and the health care sector is the Bronx’s largest employer. However, the borough has the lowest health indices in the state. With the new facility, Lehman will grow the pipeline of highly skilled, diverse, and culturally competent nursing professionals who live and work in the area.

What’s more, Lehman is the only public college in the Bronx to offer both bachelor’s and graduate degrees in nursing: traditional and accelerated undergraduate nursing programs and an online R.N.-to-B.S.; two graduate-level nurse practitioner programs; and a doctoral program in nursing practice—one of only two in the CUNY system. 

 All students taking in-person courses will get to work with 22 programmable, computerized patient simulators—including one that gives birth—in emergency, intensive care, surgical, and maternity labs, as well as a 20-bed nursing skills and physical assessment lab, located on a replica of a hospital floor.

These simulators are at the core of modern nursing programs. Hundreds of medical issues can be programmed, such as heart attacks, breathing difficulties, and pulse irregularities. Some have speakers so that faculty can talk to the students, mimicking a patient in distress.

The expanded, upgraded facilities will increase Lehman’s capacity to offer hands-on learning in a realistic, busy, hospital setting. A full complement of students can take vitals from their patients, each with a different problem that needs assessment. Learning environments can be altered to replicate a quiet day on the floor—or a series of major incidents, ramping up the stress level and putting the students to the test.

The Center also includes a training room that resembles a real city apartment, including a kitchen with working appliances to train nurses for the demands of home care, including support for patients with limited mobility.

In addition, labs for specimen analysis and statistical analysis of patient data will accommodate research conducted by advanced nurse practitioners, and candidates for the College’s new Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.