This story was originally published by the Ledger-Enquirer.
A crowd gathered around Victoria’s bed.
When it was time for her to “deliver” her baby, the question posed to those gathered was simple.
“Who wants to catch?”
Lauren Brown, chief planning officer for strategic initiatives at Columbus State University, stepped up, gloved up, and in less than two minutes, hoisted Victoria’s “baby” for all to see.
“It’s exhilarating actually,” Brown said. “My heart was pounding, it was so much fun.”
Easy peasy, especially when Victoria is a mannequin, and the “birth” is one of many to come.
That scene inside CSU’s new mother-baby simulation will soon become common for nursing students thanks to the generosity of the Miracle Riders, a group of motorcyclists whose annual rides across the United States now raise money to benefit CSU’s nursing program.
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
Columbus State University, the Miracle Riders and their leader Scott Ressmeyer led a celebration of the new mother-baby simulation lab, located inside Frank D. Brown Hall on CSU’s RiverPark campus in downtown Columbus, Georgia.
The lab is named in honor of Dr. Cecil F. Whitaker, a retired OB-GYN physician who delivered thousands of babies in the Chattahoochee Valley. In 1969, Dr. Whitaker became a partner in a Columbus practice that later became OB-GYN Associates of Columbus.
The lab gives CSU nursing students the opportunity to train on mother-baby simulation mannequins with lifelike movements, facial expressions, and responses.
Whitaker hopes this unit can make those group of students more comfortable and competent as they come into labor and delivery.
The Miracle Riders announced prior to their 2023 cross-country ride they were hoping to raise $300,000 to supply the mother-baby simulation lab with equipment, technology and enhancements similar to those in CSU’s adjacent pediatric simulation lab. In 2021, Ressmeyer and the Miracle Riders raised more than $225,000 to equip that lab.
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
Ressmeyer, a co-owner of Country’s Barbecue, said they’re about halfway to their goal of raising $1 million over time for CSU’s nursing program.
“When I first started doing this ride, it was all about raising money for the NICU. It was about helping preemie babies,” Ressmeyer said, adding that the mission grew into helping infants and toddlers and included labor and delivery.
Ressmeyer said the 2024 ride will take them to 19 other cities in the lower 48 United States named Columbus. He said they’ll be raising funds to help nursing students prepare for one day working in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“When we get home we want to raise enough money to give a state of the art NICU simulation lab here at Columbus State,” Ressmeyer said.
He said CSU agreed to help facilitate that and teach that program, which will benefit Piedmont and “any of the preemie babies that are born in this community.”
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
CSU nursing student Arika Carter said the new lab means a lot to her and the other students because it will help them before they get into a clinical setting.
“It means a lot to be able to prepare your skills before going in,” she said.
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
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