POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. – U.S. Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson toured Three Rivers College’s “unbelievable” new Nursing and Allied Health Center on Tuesday, April 19.

“This is fantastic,” commented Emerson, during a tour of the new labs, classrooms, and high-fidelity simulated patient rooms. “I’m overwhelmed. If I were a nursing student, I’d hope to study in a facility like this.”

Renovations to the 25,000-square-foot facility are complete; the nursing and medical laboratory technology programs began classes on location in January. Surgical Technology and Emergency Medical Services curriculum will follow in August.

“This is one of the greatest ideas you’ve ever had,” Emerson remarked to college president Dr. Devin Stephenson, referencing the partnership between Three Rivers and Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center that made the new center possible.

PBRMC rents the previously-unused space to the college for approximately one dollar a year. Nursing and allied health students are given the opportunity to study in a functioning hospital setting, and PBRMC recruits heavily from the graduating classes of nurses.

“We’ve maintained a 100 percent post-graduation hiring rate,” said Kim Shackleford, Director of Nursing and Division Chair for Health and Human Services. “Our last class of graduates has a 96 percent first-attempt pass rate for the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Exam for nursing). We anticipate a 100 percent overall pass rate.”

The nursing program at Three Rivers has once again been ranked by Ingram’s Magazine as a top-20 program within Missouri and Kansas, based on enrollment. Three Rivers Nursing is ranked among the University of Missouri, Pittsburg State, the Godfarb School at Barnes Jewish College in St. Louis, and others. Healthcare curriculum is currently being written so that students studying a variety of healthcare disciplines will be required to work with each other in this interactive setting, just as they would is an actual hospital.

“For example,” said Shackleford, “Our EMS students will bring in a ‘patient’ on a stretcher, having already performed their required first-response duties. The ‘patient’ is then checked in and cared for by nursing students, who then have to work with the Medical Lab Technology students to ‘draw blood’ and have it tested.”

“This is a student-focused learning environment,” said nursing instructor Paulette Alexander in conversation with the congresswoman. “Students have to take the lead, and we’re here to help facilitate that interactive experience, which is so crucial to the quality of patient care once they’re working in a true clinical setting.”

“We’re developing some of the first concept-based curriculum in Missouri,” added Shackleford. “We are writing our own textbooks based on our interdisciplinary approach to health science education. We are leaps and bounds ahead of other institutions, and we’re very proud of that.”

“I’ve never seen anything quite as sophisticated as this in my life,” said Emerson. “You have unlimited options here. Three Rivers’ ability to attract some of the best students because of the quality of this facility is unparalleled. I think this is going to succeed beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Poplar Bluff is the place to be right now.”

Also present for the tour was Poplar Bluff businessman Jerry Murphy, CEO of Gamma Laboratories.

Murphy announced that Gamma Labs would sponsor a scholarship for a Med Lab Tech student starting Fall 2011.

Three Rivers’ MLT program is lead by Dionne Thompson, a former employee of Gamma Labs.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (above) tests out "Hal". a simulation mannequin at the new Nursing and Allied Health Center at Three Rivers College (Teresa Johnson, TRC photo)