Delgado Community College

This new five-story building provides a consolidated home for nursing and a wide range of allied health programs. This specialized facility provides didactic and clinical spaces to support fast-growing programs and outreach in the region.

The state-of-the-art space provides department-specific skills labs and simulation training environments to address the full spectrum of care from cradle to grave. To remain competitive with peer institutions, the College is emphasizing cutting-edge technology such as virtual anatomy and reality lab.

A virtual hospital includes standardized patient rooms, isolation rooms, ICU, pre- and post-op wards, OR’s, birthing and pediatric rooms. These inpatient spaces are used by all degree programs to provide realistic equipment and environments for high-fidelity practice and testing. A home suite is shared by nursing, respiratory care, occupational therapy, EMT and funeral services for outpatient exercises. Patient exams spaces provide additional outpatient practice. Centrally located debrief and waiting spaces provide the required support for meaningful and safe feedback on mock clinical exercises.

In addition to the labs, the building also houses offices, general education classrooms, meeting rooms, study spaces and computational classrooms. Dining and student services, shower and changing and mother’s rooms round out this medical sub-campus.

HERA engaged key representatives from each department in a series of rapid programming exercises to meet a demanding pre-design schedule. Collaborative techniques were used to balance departmental needs with the overall budget and square footage limitations. Originally envisioned as a renovation project, the program and schematic design was translated into the eventual new construction project.