Georgian opens ultra-modern Nursing and Wellness wing at Owen Sound Campus

Georgian’s new Nursing and Wellness Wing at the Owen Sound Campus will have an extraordinary impact on community health and the staffing of health-care facilities throughout the region.

Georgian officially opened the newly transformed wing on Sept. 22, in preparation for the Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing degree program that launched this fall at both the Owen Sound and Barrie campuses.

The $7.1-million renovation transformed over 10,000 square feet at the campus. This state-of-the-art Nursing and Wellness Wing provides space and technology for students in nursing, Personal Support Worker, Police Foundations, and other programs. Students will have the opportunity to work side-by-side in an inter-professional approach, just as they will in their future careers.

Kevin Weaver, President and CEO of Georgian College said the new Nursing and Wellness wing is an incredibly exciting and historic milestone for Georgian.

We’ve created something special here at the Owen Sound Campus, with programs geared toward meeting the needs of local employers and opportunity to strengthen our community connections. It was a community effort to get to this point, and today would not be possible without the hard work of our students, employees and the generous support from the local community, government and industry donors who went above and beyond contributing not only to the renovation of this campus but supporting new awards and bursaries for our students.

– Kevin Weaver, CEO and President, Georgian College

In this purpose-built space, students will be able to expand their skills, react to complex patient scenarios, and have room to make mistakes and learn from them in safe, supportive and digitally-enabled labs.

The signature multi-purpose classroom is larger than a standard classroom and is set up as a hybrid learning space. It’s equipped with two large, flat-screen monitors for video playback that allows for live streaming of the simulations in the apartment space and other labs, and is where students and participants can observe, critique, and debrief after the simulated experience in larger numbers.

Having these kind of facilities enables us to stay on top of how the nursing profession is utilizing new technology in the provision of care, enabling us to give our patients the finest treatment possible. The best learning for students is experiential learning, which is what our new wing provides. We’ll now gain experience in a variety of nursing-related areas and it will help us all be practice ready.

Madison Lindsay, third-semester Practical Nursing student

The teaching apartment will be used for home visit training and provides a safe and fault-forging environment, prior to real-life application with patients. In this lab, nursing and other health-care students will learn scenarios such as providing wound care to post-surgical patients.

The new wing also includes the addition of two flex skills labs, where students will interact with high-fidelity manikins and gain hands-on experience, inside real-life pods resembling hospital rooms and two high-fidelity simulation labs that emulate an Intensive Care Unit.

Fourteen people stand in three rows behind a ribbon on stanchions, and cut the ribbon to a new hallway wing.
The grand opening platform party cuts the ribbon, officially opening the new Nursing and Wellness Wing at Georgian College’s Owen Sound Campus. Pictured from left to right, front row: Warden Selwyn Hicks, Hana Plantt, Katrina Brown; middle row: Rob Cordell, Steve Lowe, Kevin Weaver, Sheila West, Fred Varkaris; back row: MPP Rick Byers, MPP Natalie Pierre, Sara Lankshear, Bill Van Wyck, Mayor Ian Boddy, and Gary Sims.
A student rotates the body of an elderly high fidelity manikin in a nursing simulation lab, while a woman watches the learning demonstration
Natalie Pierre, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Colleges and Universities and MPP-Burlington (right), learns about the palliative care simulation lab from Personal Support Worker student Melissa Cameron.
A pediatric high fidelity manikin lays in a bed in a nursing simulation lab while four people stand around the bed to learn about the technology
Guests tour one of the new labs while an Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing student explains the new simulation technology including high-fidelity manikins.

    About Georgian’s nursing degree

    Study close to home and graduate with the advantage of more industry connections, hands-on practise and one-on-one training with small class sizes taught by expert faculty who care.

    • Four-year degree
    • Barrie and Owen Sound campuses
    • Six clinical placements
    • Applications open Oct. 1 for the September 2023 intake

    About our Owen Sound Campus

    The Owen Sound Campus is located on almost 15 acres of property and is small but mighty.

    It offers a wide variety of programs, in great facilities, including Canada’s most advanced marine simulation and research centre.

    Our warm community offers everything students need, the ability to connect with staff and faculty, as well as provides a personalized approach to education.

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