State Representative Mary Flowers Visits Northwestern College in Oak Lawn
This week Northwestern College was pleased to welcome Illinois State Representative Mary Flowers of the 30th District to its Oak Lawn Campus for a tour and to meet some of its faculty and administrators. It was Representative Flowers’ first visit to the College, which provided an opportunity for her to meet numerous instructors and to view the various student labs, many of which featured healthcare technology. Known for her strong and passionate voice for children, women, seniors, and those in need of critical health care, the College especially appreciated the opportunity to show Rep. Flowers its own growth in the health care arena through the addition of its Radiologic Technology, Nursing, and Diagnostic Medical Sonography Programs over the past five years.
On her tour through the Nursing Lab, the College demonstrated various pieces of technology utilized in the classroom, such as the inclusion of multiple life-size Mannequins of adults, seniors, children, and even infants, all used by Northwestern College students during the course of their nursing curricula. Assistant Professor of Nursing Renita Sanders demonstrated the interactive abilities of the Mannequins, emphasizing various medical conditions and teaching moments afforded to her students as a result of their use. Rep. Flowers was also able to witness the capabilities of the Mannequins which exhibited bodily functions as simple as a heartbeat or breathing, up to a more complex seizure had by a pregnant Mannequin, which would induce the immediate and critical response of a student nurse, a response of which would be evaluated by nursing instructors. Further into the tour, the Radiologic Technology classrooms revealed both “live” and simulator radiologic technology, which afford Northwestern College students the opportunity to safely learn proper usage of the same equipment they would find in local hospitals and medical offices as they progress into their clinicals and later, at jobs in their field post-graduation, following state licensure.
At the conclusion of the Oak Lawn Campus tour, Representative Flowers met with various school Administrators who shared with her Northwestern College’s 113 year history in the Chicagoland area and outlined all of the Certificate and Degree Programs it has to offer.
Northwestern College’s Assistant Professor of Nursing Renita Sanders (right) provides IL State Rep Mary Flowers a tour of the College’s Nursing Lab in Oak Lawn.