Virginia Western Community College opens $26 million structure

Just in time for Wednesday’s launch of the fall semester, Virginia Western Community College officially opened its first new building in 20 years.

The $26 million structure at Colonial Avenue and McNeil Drive in Roanoke has been in the works for years. The new Center for Science and Health Professions will provide more space and updated technology for courses, including nursing, dental hygiene and basic lab sciences, some of the college’s fastest-growing areas of study.

The new space will mimic what students will find in the workforce, officials said, leaving them better prepared for high-demand health care jobs.

“I call this a premiere building,” college President Robert Sandel said. “All the space, the equipment, the bells and whistles.”

The facility boasts classroom space, faculty offices, a multipurpose room, a dental clinic and lab space, including a nursing simulation system. The system includes an eight-bed nursing lab with mannequins to simulate patients.

There’s also a classroom outfitted to resemble a hospital room. Inside the room, which has a view of Mill Mountain, a mannequin lies on a hospital bed across from a two-way mirror. On the other side of the mirror an instructor can watch, control the pretend patient and even talk to a student via a speaker system.

Nearby the radiation oncology department has a linear accelerator, which officials said is rare among community colleges. It is used in a hospital setting for radiation treatment of cancers.

While the accelerator at Virginia Western does not administer radiation, it will allow students to train on positioning patients for treatment that is so exact it comes to down the millimeter.

The building also has a dental clinic and labs. The clinic, which has its own entrance off Colonial Avenue, will be open to the public for free routine oral exams and X-rays.

In the lab everything is digital with computers at the 12 dental stations. Each also has a screen where patients can view X-rays or images of their own teeth using a camera at the station.

“It’s tremendous,” said Marty Sullivan, program head of dental hygiene. “It’s the newest technology.”

She said it’s important for students to have access to the latest tools.

“It helps them secure a job. It’s a basic expectation they know how to use the equipment,” she said. “I can hardly wait for students to get in here.”

Early Wednesday the lab was empty, but Sullivan expected students in the afternoon. Classes at Virginia Western started at 8 a.m.. and prior to that officials literally rolled out the red carpet for the Center for Science and Health Professions’ formal opening. Several dozen people gathered for brief remarks by Sandel and other officials.

“It’s probably the most expensive building we’ve ever built,” Sandel said of the project that was primarily paid for using money from a state bond issue. “This building will compare with anyone.”

The formidable, four-story facility sits off Colonial Avenue and is 68,000 square feet. It was largely ready for classes Wednesday save for some dust on a few floors and empty boxes lining corridors on the fourth floor.

The building will add needed space, allowing the college to increase the number of students in health care programs. Sandel said some of those courses are full with waiting lists from the first day.

“The thing about health care programs is there’s jobs for all those folks,” Sandel said.

The building was completed earlier this summer. The college’s staff has spent the past several months moving from Anderson Hall, which formerly housed science and health programs.

“It’s like night and day between Anderson Hall and this building,” Sandel said, adding Anderson was among the college’s original buildings and is about 40 years old.

Carole Graham, the college’s dean of health professions, said the new building is like a different world.

“Everything in the building is new and state of the art,” she said.

What students will encounter in the classroom is what they’ll see in a hospital or a clinic, she said, making students ready for the workforce

“I hope opportunities will be wide open for our graduates,” she said.

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