A "virtual hospital."
Bismarck State College’s Health Sciences program has moved from a downtown Bismarck location to the main campus.
The program is now housed in the former “Unisys” building.
Mary Volk chairs the Health Sciences Department. She said the Unisys building, which housed a call center, was purchased by the BSC Foundation in 2014, and was renovated to give it more of a hospital feel.
"This is, to me, a hospital," Volk said. "I came out of the hospital, where I worked for 15 years. This is a hospital, to me."
Volk said this means students are getting real-world skills.
"They're getting those hands-on opportunities in an OR, in a hospital room, in a simulation center, and in an ambulance," Volk said.
Volk said this will help with a workforce shortage in health care fields.
"We need those nurses. We need those lab techs. We need those surgical technicians," Volk said. "We need them all over North Dakota."
McKayla Haux of Bismarck is a second year student in surgical technology. She had her first year in the downtown facility, and now is studying in the new space.
"This OR is way more realistic, compared to the old space," Haux said. "We get a more realistic feel of an actual OR. And when we go into clinicals in an actual operating room, we will know what it's like.