To ensure registered nurses and trained health care professionals are available to care for the residents of the Juniata Valley, the Penn State Learning Center in Lewistown, Lewistown Hospital School of Nursing, and Mifflin-Juniata Career and Technology Center Practical Nursing Program joined together to help create a state-of-the-art Health and Science Laboratory.
The lab, located in the learning center, is educating and training nursing students and other health care professionals. This university-community partnership has been honored with a Recognition of Excellence Award for Innovations in Outreach and Engagement by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) -- an international professional association for people in higher continuing education and lifelong learning.
Opened in October 2009, the Health and Science Lab is equipped with the latest in high-technology human patient simulators and other science equipment. In 2010, the Lewistown Hospital School of Nursing received national accreditation for its program, thanks in large part to the lab being an integral part of the nursing education curriculum.
The lab also is the site of a new summer science youth camp. In the future, the Learning Center plans to make use of the lab for new programs, including physical therapy assistant, medical laboratory technology and biotechnology associate degree programs.
This partnership also received a UPCEA Mid-Atlantic Region Institutional Partnership Award in 2010.
Penn State Learning Center in Lewistown is part of Penn State Continuing Education, which offers a venue for adults to return to the classroom. Continuing Education reaches more than 30,000 adult learners annually at Penn State campuses statewide. Continuing Education is part of Penn State Outreach, the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 114 countries worldwide.