Dr. Perla Castor Clinical Simulation Center grand opening & blessing

CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini celebrated the opening of the Dr. Perla Castor Clinical Simulation Center with a grand opening and blessing. This brand-new clinical space was funded by generous donors through the CHRISTUS Cabrini Foundation.

“We are grateful to the Alexandria community for their continued support of CHRISTUS Cabrini,” said Ashley Walker, executive director, philanthropy, CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Foundation. “These philanthropic gifts are transforming health education in our community, as this space will provide invaluable education to health care workers and students.”

The Dr. Perla Castor Clinical Simulation Center has tripled the hospital’s training space, allowing CHRISTUS to establish a cutting-edge training program for local nursing students and partnerships with local high schools and junior high schools. These efforts will raise awareness and interest in health care via field trips and hands-on demonstrations.

The simulation center is equipped with three different simulation labs and one multipurpose classroom. Each lab can be set up with a different specialty, such as intensive care, emergency care, neonatal care, labor and delivery, and more. These spaces will provide students the opportunity to experience multiple simulated patient situations during their training exercise.

This new facility will also allow in-house clinical educators the ability to double their current student capacity, expanding the training program to house over 2,400 students per year.

“This sizable increase will ensure that more health care workers than ever before will not only be able to stay and train locally but will be able to do so in the most high-tech facility available,” said Stanley Guillot, CHRISTUS Cabrini Simulation Education program director.