County College of Morris announces new Healthcare Simulation Center
Donation from Paragano Family Foundation Enables New Integrative Medical Facility
RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP, NJ (Morris County) — County College of Morris (CCM) held a grand opening ceremony for the Paragano Family Foundation Healthcare Simulation Center, a new, 13,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility housed on campus, providing real-world, hands-on training for students studying one of the many in-demand areas in healthcare.
Through the generosity of Eileen Paragano and the Paragano Family Foundation, the college can bring together nursing, respiratory therapy, radiography, drug counseling and additional healthcare programs, in an enhanced clinical teaching space replicating a real medical center.
The new 13,000-square-foot Paragano Family Foundation Healthcare Simulation Center will provide a unique learning environment for CCM students to work together in an integrated manner, just as they do in area hospitals, to save lives and improve healthcare for all.
“We are excited to have opened this simulation center and are grateful to the Paragano Family Foundation and our other supporters for helping to provide our students with this invaluable training experience,” said Dr. Anthony J. Iacono, president of CCM. “This facility allows our students to train in a realistic and dynamic setting to prepare them for successful careers in health care. Thank you for changing the lives, of what will be thousands upon thousands, for the better.”
In the center, students work with such high-tech equipment as patient monitors, ventilators and IV pumps. Further enhancing their learning experience is a full camera system to record students as they train and to share with others remotely, a private, debriefing room where students can review their exercises with faculty, and additional adjacent teaching spaces.
“There is a need in Morris County and beyond for professionals in the healthcare field, this facility we celebrate today provides the space,” said John P. Beyel, Esq., vice chair, CCM Foundation Board of Directors.
Eileen Paragano, secretary, CCM Foundation Board of Directors and also a CCM graduate, was amazed at the renovated space and humbly thanked everyone for attending the ceremony.
“When I first saw this space, it was a closet,” said Paragano. “I am glad I saw it before, otherwise it wouldn’t have had the same impact to me.”
Paragano concluded that most importantly the center is dedicated to her late husband, N. Larry Paragano, Sr.
This impactful and innovative learning environment at CCM would not be possible without the generous gifts from the Paragano Family Foundation and other generous supporters, including the A.P. Kirby, Jr. Family Fund, Atlantic Health System, the Carolyn Jane Scott Charitable Trust, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, Dr. Anthony Iacono and Mrs. Deborah Iacono, Jessie K. Lee, Monica Maraska and New Jersey Natural Gas.
“Healthy communities could not start at CCM without gifts like yours,” Iacono said.
Director of Morris County Commissioners John Krickus spoke at the event as well. “We need to have skills for our workforce and that is why the Morris County Commissioners have been so supportive.”
As these and additional healthcare careers emerge in our rapidly changing environment, CCM is at the forefront. The Paragano Family Foundation Healthcare Simulation Center is already used by CCM faculty, staff and students. The college recently announced plans for the new 70,000-square-foot Center for Health Professions and once complete, the Simulation Center will be moved into the new building.
“Spaces like this allow us to do things like we have never done before,” said Iacono.
To learn more about the college’s current areas of study to be a health professional, click here.
For questions or more information, contact Melissa Albright at malbright@ccm.edu, or call 973-328-5171.
