UMPI unveils new nursing lab after $800K renovation
Courtesy / University of Maine at Presque Isle
At the new John Lisnik Nursing Simulation Center at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Steve Richard, second from right, chair of the school's board of visitors, speaks to a small, socially distanced gathering of Lisnik family members as UMPI President Ray Rice, far right, looks on.
A new state-of-the-art nursing lab at the University of Maine at Presque Isle is now ready to accommodate more than 100 undergraduate nursing students expected on campus in 2021.
The John Lisnik Nursing Simulation Center was recently dedicated to a Presque Isle native and UMPI alum who served as the University of Maine System’s liaison to the state Legislature for more than two decades. He died in April.
A spokeswoman for the school told Mainebiz that UMPI spent $800,000 to create the space for simulation training, and that the project entailed renovating an old lecture hall into a multi-section, seven-bed nursing unit.
Renovations included raising the floor and lowering the ceiling in the space to level it with the ground floor of Folsom Hall, making it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and outfitting the space with sustainable fixtures, lighting and infrastructure upgrades.
Funding was made possible through voter-approved bond funding.
The project was designed by engineering firm WBRC of Bangor, whose higher education portfolio also includes the Ferland Engineering Education & Design Center in Orono, the Northern Maine Community College Health Simulation Center in Presque Isle and the Beardsley Meeting House at Husson University.
A&L Construction served as the general contractor, and subcontractors included Honeywell, Footer Painting and Repair, ABM Mechanical Inc., M&M Sheet Metal & Welding, Underwood Electric The Allen Co., PDQ Door Co, Inc., Hawkes Acoustical Inc. and Maine Fire Protection Systems, according to the spokeswoman.
UMPI said the new space supports its ongoing collaboration with the University of Maine at Fort Kent, which has delivered its bachelor of science degree program in nursing on the UMPI campus since fall of 2018.
With the expansion, and with both campuses’ continuing efforts to help address the statewide nursing shortage, officials hope to have between 100 and 120 nursing students pursuing the bachelor's degree through the University of Maine at Fort Kent on UMPI's campus by 2021.
The lab was officially dedicated in late October. It will serve as a learning space mainly for junior- and senior-year nursing students.
“The new John Lisnik Nursing Simulation Center allows our campus to help prepare more job-ready graduates in career fields, like nursing, where rural Maine has the greatest need," said UMPI President Ray Rice said in a news release, in which he also thanked Maine voters for supporting the bond funds.
“We are also grateful for the opportunity this new space gives us to honor a man who has been a tireless supporter of Maine’s public universities. We extend our gratitude for John Lisnik’s legacy of service to our students, the System and the state," he added.
Lisnik served a tour in Vietnam in the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, later taught at Caribou High School, and then served for 10 years in the Legislature. He went on to work for the University of Maine System for 25 years and continued his advocacy after retirement.
While receiving treatment for leukemia at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, he made calls on behalf of the successful $49 million University of Maine System workforce infrastructure bond campaign in 2018.
“This is something John would have loved,” his widow, Donna Lisnik, said about the new space at the official dedication. “What an opportunity for the nurses-to-be, what an opportunity for our community; this is going to contribute so much to their education. Thank you for remembering John and for doing it in this way.”
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