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4/6/2006 - Medical Mannequins Donated to Auburn University School of Nursing
F OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Richard Nieves
Alacare Home Health & Hospice
4752 Highway 280 East
Birmingham, AL 35242
Phone: 205.981.8000 or 800.852.4724
Fax : 205.981.8743
E-mail: Richard.Nieves@alacare.com
Auburn, Alabama— “Miss Sue” and “Mr. Charlie” won’t mind being poked and prodded by nursing students. They will be quiet and still as the novices make their first attempts at inserting a urinary catheter or giving an injection. Don’t worry too much about this elderly couple, though. “Miss Sue” and “Mr. Charlie” are medical mannequins who have recently taken up residence at the Clinical Practice Lab at the Auburn University School of Nursing.
“We plan to use these mannequins across our whole curriculum,” says Regina Bentley, RN, EdD, an assistant professor at the Auburn University School of Nursing. “These mannequins will facilitate our first semester students learning visual health assessment techniques, and senior students will be able to practice tracheostomy care on them.”
The mannequins really are remarkably human, and have been designed to simulate geriatric patients. They have moles, pressure sores and dilated pupils—all things for which nurses need to be on the lookout when they are caring for real patients. Students can also learn to do prostate exams and gynecological exams, as well as practice caring for wounds and ostomies.
“It’s much less stressful for students to be able to learn these nursing techniques on mannequins rather than on people,” Bentley says.
“We are pleased to be able to help these future nurses learn the fundamental skills of their profession,” says John Beard, JD, MBA, the President of Alacare Home Health & Hospice and a co-founder, with his parents, of the Hospice & Home Health Fund of Alabama, which donated the mannequins to the school. The mannequins are named after Beard’s parents, the late Major Charles D. Beard, Jr., and his wife, Mary Sue Beard. “My parents were always strong supporters of the nursing profession in general and home care nurses in particular.” The senior Beard founded Alacare Home Health & Hospice in 1970.
So “Mr. Charlie” and “Miss Sue,” both sharply attired in their personalized Alacare polo shirts, wait patiently for the fall semester to begin. That’s when their real work will begin.
About Alacare
Alacare Home Health & Hospice is Alabama's oldest and largest privately owned, Medicare-certified home health agency. Headquartered in Birmingham, Alacare is dedicated to providing patients the highest level of skilled nursing, rehabilitative, palliative and hospice care available in the most efficient environment—the patient's own home. Since 1970, Alacare has provided patients with quality home healthcare.
Services provided include: diabetes education, enterostomal therapy, homecare aides, infusion therapy, medical nutrition therapy, medical social services, mental health nursing, occupational therapy, pain management, physical therapy, skilled nursing, and speech language pathology.
For more information, visit the Company's corporate Web site: www.alacare.com.
