$30,000 Grant to Lumpkin School of Nursing at EIU

The Coles Community Health Program (CCHP) Board of Directors has approved a $30,000 grant to the new Eastern Illinois University Gail and Richard Lumpkin School of Nursing to assist in the development of a Simulation Center. More specifically, grant funds will be used for faculty education, standardized patient development, and associated materials.

Over the past year, a focus on simulation learning has intensified in nursing education, with social distancing requirements, limitations of protective equipment, and the constraints of clinical sites creating unique challenges for the field’s future practitioners. The State of Illinois allows up to 25 percent of nursing clinicals to be substituted with simulation – a feature of the State’s programming that predates the 2020 pandemic.

“Simulation education is the bridge between the classroom and real-life experiences. The simulation laboratory will further the EIU goal of advancing the curriculum that focuses on rural health and the underserved,” according to Dr. Holly Farley, assistant professor and Chairperson of EIU’s School of Nursing. “We are very thankful to the Coles Community Health Program for this initial grant.”

Eastern Illinois University established the Gail and Richard Lumpkin School of Nursing based on the critical shortage of nursing in central Illinois. The initial cohort of students will begin the program this spring.

“We are very pleased to be supporting the Simulation Center to be part of the professional development of healthcare students in our community,” said Dr. Robert Good, President of the Coles Community Health Program and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. “Simulation will prepare students using both ‘manikins’ and standardized patients for situations in the hospital, ambulatory setting, and home health care.”

The Coles Community Health Program was established in 2007 to improve healthcare access for low-income citizens of Coles County. Since its inception, the CCHP has established a Federally Qualified Health Center (Mattoon and Charleston Medical Center) and has supported a prediabetes program at the Mattoon Area Family YMCA, as well as new programs at LifeLinks mental health and wellness center in Mattoon.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its various programs and services, visit the EIU website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.