$500,000 Donation

Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles announced a $500,000 donation to the School of Nursing during a luncheon honoring Judge Carlton and Sue Sanders on Friday, March 15.

Carlton and Sue, alumni of the IUS School of Business, donated the money to renovate and expand the School of Nursing’s facilities and accommodate a growing program.

“This much needed expansion and renovation to increase the size of the teaching lab will help us grow the number of students admitted to the program each year,” Patterson-Randles said.

The current eight-bed nursing facility will be separated and expanded into two spaces, Jacquelyn Reid, interim dean of the School of Nursing, said. The new Judge Carlton and Sue Sanders Laboratory for Nursing Education will house a skills lab with 16 beds and a two-room simulation lab with robotic, simulated patients.

“This will enable the school to continue to provide highly-educated and extremely capable, caring nurses to provide care to the residents of Southern Indiana and the Louisville-Metro area – ensuring our students are successful for years to come,” said Reid.

Sanders said he attended an open house last summer and recognized the need for renovated labs while visiting the School of Nursing.

“We saw the Duct Tape, Scotch Tape, and Band-Aides on the equipment,” Sanders said. “We determined that, that would be a good place for it to go.”

The School of Nursing has awarded 1,531 baccalaureate degrees since 1980, and many of the graduates remain in the region, Reid said.

However, limited laboratory space restricts the number of student applicants accepted to the program.

“A number of variables cause nursing programs to deny applicants admission,” Reid said. “Among the reasons are inadequate facilities within the school to provide students area to practice where they learn before caring for ill patients in a health care setting. Indiana University Southeast is no different.”

Seeking to provide highly-trained, capable and caring nurses, the nursing facility will also feature 16 mannequins, Reid said.

“They will be mechanized, and they will have heart sounds and lung sound, which is important for educating sophomores on how to assess patients,” Reid said. “They will also have some capability of groaning and speaking.”

Sue Sanders underwent upper and lower knee replacement surgery, which prevented her from being present at the luncheon, Patterson-Randles said.

“Undoubtedly, she relied on the care of some really excellent nurses to get her through that,” Patterson-Randles said.

The Sanders, recipients of the IU Southeast Alumni Award of Excellence, have also donated to the IUS School of Business and created the Sanders Financial Markets Lab, Sanders said.

“We said there are so many needs on campus and through no fault of anyone except the legislature,” Sanders said. “It was just our way of giving back, quite frankly.”

Patterson-Randles expressed her gratitude for the donation on behalf of the university, noting that IU Southeast exceeded its $11 million goal for the Shaping Powerful Futures campaign two-and-a-half years early in December 2012.

“The Sanders have been tremendous donors to the campus,” Patterson-Randles said. “We are so pleased that the quality of this institution has been recognized by our regional community.”

Mike Brown, nursing senior, said the lab and simulated patients are vital to the development of nursing students.

“They allow us to learn and make mistakes in an entirely controlled environment so that when we are out in the real world, those mistakes don’t happen,” Brown said. “We have been operating in a confined space as it is for some time now, which has really limited the number of students the program has been able to accept.”

With many graduates residing in the region and practicing at local hospitals, Reid said these improvements would help in “ensuring our students are successful for years to come.”

“There is a high probability that the nurse that cared for you during your last hospitalization or during your families’ last hospitalization was an IU Southeast graduate,” Reid said.

Sanders said he wanted to lend a hand by leaving a legacy at IU Southeast, and perhaps, he will, too, receive a nurturing hand from an IUS nursing student.

“I will ask that the nursing students, some of you at least, will specialize in geriatrics,” Sanders said with a laugh. “Because I’m going to be calling on you sometime these days.”

The project’s completion date is set for fall 2014.

By STEPHEN ALLEN

Features Editor

allen68@imail.iu.edu