Blue & You Foundation Awards Grant to Nursing & Health Professions for SimBaby Project
JONESBORO – Arkansas State University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) is the recipient of a grant totaling $89,098 from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas to purchase a pediatric simulator for the college’s SimBaby Project.
“We are so thankful to the Blue & You Foundation,” stated Dr. Susan Hanrahan, dean, College of Nursing and Health Professions. “The foundation’s focus on good health and quality care is exactly what Arkansans need. These high-fidelity manikin simulators are quite expensive, but we do educate hundreds of students, so this will be a very cost-effective expenditure for them. We are very grateful for the foundation’s generosity.”
As a portion of $2.7 million in grants to improve health in the region, the grant was provided to the ASU Foundation for use by CNHP. The Blue & You Foundation was established in 2001 by Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield as a charitable foundation to promote better health in Arkansas.
Pediatric simulators for the SimBaby Project are designed to help healthcare providers effectively recognize and respond to critically ill pediatric patients. It represents a nine-month-old pediatric patient and provides a highly realistic manikin simulation that meets specific learning objectives focusing on initial assessment and treatment.
The gift allows education for 125 undergraduate nursing students per year at A-State to care for acutely ill pediatric patients in the Northeast Arkansas Delta Region. The simulation experience allows students to perform a variety of medical procedures including effective respiratory assessment and management, recognize signs and symptoms of common respiratory illnesses in pediatric patients, and safely prepare and administer appropriate medicines.
Additionally, it will help outline parental reaction to illness and/or hospitalization of their child, compare and determine the effectiveness of nursing interventions for a hospitalized child to that of an adult less than 12 months of age, identify examples of how care is prioritized, describe ethical/legal issues discussed or demonstrated while providing patient care, and demonstrate professional behavior.
The Blue & You Foundation awards grants annually to non-profit or governmental organizations and programs that positively affect the health of Arkansans. In its 17 years of operation, the Blue & You Foundation has awarded $33 million to 1,566 health improvement programs in Arkansas. Arkansas State is one of 42 recipients selected from 232 applicants for the 2019 grant.
“Our grants this year went to programs across the state that address such issues as nutrition and exercise, food insecurity, emergency medical services and medical professional education,” said Patrick O’Sullivan, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation.
