Johns Hopkins All Children’s, Walmart celebrate $1.2M gift to simulation center
Walmart and Johns Hopkins All Children’s cut the ribbon Thursday on the Walmart and Sam’s Club Simulation Center.
The space is a testing, research and training facility where learners get hands-on experiences in spaces that mimic anything from a clinical exam room to a home environment.
See photos from the dedication below.
“Simulation is part of the fabric of what we do here. It’s in our DNA. It’s how we practice medicine,” said Dr. Paul Danielson, interim chair of the department of surgery at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
The goal is to save lives, said Dr. Jennifer Arnold, medical director of the simulation center.
“It’s a place where we recreate high-risk, potentially rare clinical situations where a team of healthcare providers – and sometimes non-healthcare providers – can learn how to practice how to handle that critical situation with intense stress, time pressure and realism,” Arnold said. “It’s a safe place to make mistakes and learn from them.”
Arnold called the program a “change agent.” Tom Kmetz, the hospital’s interim president, said every time he stops in at the center, he thinks it’s the future of medicine, then he refines that thought.
“It might be the future of medicine in other places, but it’s our present here and we’re thankful for that,” Kmetz said.
Walmart and Sam’s Club associates raised $1.2 million for the center.
Walmart and Sam’s Club associates have helped raise $1 billion for 170 Children’s Miracle Network hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins All Children’s, across the country since 1987. In that same time period, associates, customers and members have raised $18 million for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, said Karen Coup, market manager, covering operations for 11 Walmart Neighborhood Markets from Bradenton to Naples.
St. Petersburg has lots of cool places, but few are as interesting and as important as the hospital’s Research and Education Building, where the simulation center is housed, said Mayor Rick Kriseman.
“We are at the very heart of our Innovation District here, where incredible things are happening every single day, and the world is taking notice,” Kriseman said.
The simulation center and the Research and Education Building officially opened last fall.
