By: Ashmar Mandou
Designed with ingenuity and quality programming in mind, Malcolm X College’s newly opened state-of-the-art campus addresses the needs and wants of prospective students with the desire to pursue a career in health sciences. “It is truly an amazing feeling to see a vision come to fruition after so many years,” said Interim President for Malcolm X College and School of Health Sciences David A. Sanders, who conducted a media tour with Lawndale Bilingual Newspaper just last week. “We are excited for students to check out our new facility and hopefully be inspired by the plethora of health science degrees they can pursue.”
Malcolm X College and School of Health Sciences is a 1 million square foot facility aimed to educate students in a field projected to create 84,000 health care jobs over the next decade. The newly designed campus includes a virtual hospital complete with operating and emergency rooms with observation areas; nursing, radiography, respiratory care, and science labs; and an ambulance cab for EMT simulations, with the input from health care employers. “What is particularly vital for us as educators is to make sure our students receive the best education, to provide “real life” patient scenarios. This allows us the ability to pressure test student skills under stressed-conditions, assess strengths and weaknesses, and improve student hard and soft skills,” said Sanders. The new college offers degree and certificate programs in the most in-demand health science fields, including nursing, radiography, phlebotomy, surgical technology, mortuary science, respiratory care, and paramedic and EMT, health information management, dental hygiene, and fire science. Occupational therapy assistant (OTA) and physical therapy assistant programs will also launch in 2017. The college continues to offer general education and adult education (GED and ESL) programs. The new college can accommodate up to 20,000 students, 6,000 more than before, and includes an eight-story health science tower, a four-story academic building, and 1,500-space parking garage.
“We really took into the consideration the needs of the students,” said Sanders. “We know their life is busy so we wanted to provide them all the amenities they need to enhance their student life.” With that in mind students are able to take advantage of a new fitness center, library, bookstore and cafeteria, an outdoor garden, ample work-study space, several conference centers, and a child care center. “Our new facility is a one-stop-shop for those entering into the health sciences. That is what I would like prospective students to know. We provide an array of programs within the field of health with top professionals imparting their knowledge with the students to help ensure their success.” Beginning this summer, the facility will host a dental hygiene clinic that will serve the community for free. If you would like to learn more or schedule a tour, call 773-COLLEGE.
