Western University’s innovative Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing building officially opens

The doors are officially open at the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University.

Long-time donors to health education at Western University, Arthur and Sonia Labatt, opened the building on Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour.

The new nursing building is a state-of-the-art four-storey facility with a total of 130,000 square feet of space. The space, which combines academic learning and clinical education, cost $41 million and provides a unique learning setting, with a suite of 16 beds that form a simulated hospital setting.

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“We are preparing students not only for practical skills they will need, but equipping them for the comprehensive layers of problem-solving, critical thinking and evidence-based decision making that are required components of nurses’ daily roles,” said Ass. Prof. Vicki Smye, director of Western’s nursing program.

“We believe that this – coupled with a focus on research, leadership, information management, communication and innovation — helps make us unique among nursing programs in the country.”

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An atrium filled with natural light connects the wings of the building. One wing is the new home of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

“Buildings, by themselves, don’t make a school excellent,” said health sciences dean Jayne Garland.

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“But great buildings can cultivate excellence as they become fertile fields where outstanding research, teaching and scholarship can continue to flourish.”

The building itself is also physically closer to the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Health Sciences Building.