In the small town of Watrous, the new nursing facility stands out like a brand new shiny penny and Carlton Trail College was proud to show it off.
"We were really excited to celebrate the grand opening," said Val Koroluk, marketing facilitator for the college. "It's a fantastic facility and we're really pleased with it."
In the region, Carlton Trail College operates four main campuses: Humboldt, Wynyard, Southey, and Watrous. Despite being a small town compared to the other locations, Watrous is the only campus to run the college's practical nursing program. With it having a wait list every year, it was only natural that it finally receive an upgrade.
On April 30, the college invited anyone who was involved in the process and anyone who wanted to see the new building to come to the opening. The event began with practical demonstrations by the nursing students, followed by the speeches and ribbon-cutting. Public acknowledgments and thanks were given as well as a few scholarships.
"The practical nursing program has 22 students that we provide education for," said Koroluk. "This was a great opportunity to show it and highlight some of our other programs as well."
The new Watrous facility is actually owned by Dr. Russell Matai, the chiropractor whose office is adjoined to the facility. When Matai had been looking to build an office for his practice, the college had been looking for a unified location and improved facilities. It was a match made in heaven.
"The mayor was the matchmaker. He heard about Matai wanting to build a place and hooked us up," said Ivan Yackel, president and CEO of the college. "Matai let us design the inside to our specifications and lease it. This public-private partnership is one I would say I'm proud of."The facility contains at least one large room for practical instruction as well as others for academic and technical-based learning. Although its main purpose is for the practical nursing program, it might also be used for other health related training at some later point.
"I'm also proud that we were able to create a mirror image of what the real world will look like for these students," said Yackel. "Before this, what was happening was that we were renting facilities that weren't designed for that purpose."
According to Yackel, the students had been doing labs at the local Carlton Trail College office and renting out a room in a different facility for classes. As such, some students were in one location while some were in another. Even worse is that the lab facilities in Watrous were dated compared to the equipment at the Saskatoon location where they would go to practice.
Fortunately, after two years of planning, students were able to start learning under one roof at the beginning of this year. Their new location features at least five or six hospital beds and cutting-edge technology comparable to any up-to-date hospital room.
"It was great to see the people that came out. A lot of them had been associated with the program or college and they seemed really pleased with the caliber of the building," said Yackel. "It was great to get such good support."
