Mon Health System and West Virginia Junior College Announce Ron and Stephanie Stovash Mobile Nursing Lab

Mon Health System and West Virginia Junior College, through the generous support of its donors, have collaborated once again, this time to innovate advancements in healthcare simulation with the Ron and Stephanie Stovash Mobile Nursing Lab. The mobile simulation lab will provide access to nursing education for both current and future nurses.

The groundbreaking simulation center on wheels will serve two main purposes, to augment the training of West Virginia Junior College nursing students through North Central WV, and to serve as a training tool for currently practicing nurses and other healthcare professionals within the Mon Health System. This innovation has been made possible through the generosity of donations made by Ron and Stephanie Stovash, The Health Plan, and the Hazel Ruby McQuain Trust. 

“Very few WV healthcare systems have this level of advanced simulation technology, and none of them currently offer this technology on a Mobile Platform,” said Chad Callen, CEO of WVJC. “Mon Health System, in collaboration with West Virginia Junior College, will be the first. By making simulation mobile, we can expand access to healthcare facilities more broadly than ever before. And the result of that is higher quality of care for the communities of North Central WV.”

The Ron and Stephanie Stovash Mobile Simulation Center on Wheels is a state-of-the-art highly specialized vehicle. The 38-foot center is customized with two simulation hospital rooms, a central control room, high fidelity simulation mannequins (adult, obstetric, and pediatric), sophisticated video recording and viewing technology, and other equipment and supplies needed for effective nursing skill training. An exterior monitor further expands the training capacity so participants outside the lab can engage and learn from live simulations without disrupting the learning going on inside the mobile lab.

"This mobile simulation center is an amazing resource with many possibilities. This center allows us to take consistent technology out to all of our Mon Health sites and affiliates along with WVJC educational sites to bring consistency in care at the patient side," said David Goldberg, President and CEO of Mon Health System. "We are currently working with WVJC to conceptualize how much we might be able to expand its scope of use."
 
Simulation is becoming more commonly used to train nurses and other healthcare professionals, but it is often cost-prohibitive and affixed to one location. This innovative model makes simulation training mobile, expanding its access beyond a single location. For Mon Health, this collaboration will provide access to simulation training for its current workforce at healthcare facilities throughout North Central WV. For WVJC, the partnership adds a third mobile nursing lab, expanding its hybrid-online program currently offered throughout the state. The new mobile simulation lab will be modeled after WVJC’s current lab, which you can tour by clicking here.

To find out more about the WVJC School of Nursing at Mon Health, please call 877-25ONLINE or visit WVJC.edu.