Building Skills Improving Care

September 01, 2026
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The Commonwealth Credit Union Experiential Simulation Lab is a vision that we have had for many years and we are very excited because it will not only support our staff, our patients and families, but our entire community. It will provide a safe environment for staff to learn new skills, enhance skills that they already know in a safe environment with no fear of harming a patient.

The Sim Lab not only will have high fidelity mannequins, but all of the additional technology and the continual things that we'll be able to purchase to add to our current technology. So we're constantly growing, increasing the opportunities that we're able to provide and the level that the education department can support staff.

The Experiential Simulation Lab will allow us to have real life scenarios and our staff will see real life patient deterioration and patient conditions as it happens, they will be able to assess their patient and intervene appropriately in real time. The generous gift of our donors allowed our vision to come to life. This was project that we may not have been able to have happen otherwise. So this allowed us to have this high fidelity simulation lab now and in the future. I would like to thank our donors for their investment. They really do not probably know the impact of what this will do and has done for our hospital, our staff, our community.
Judy Ponder, DNP, director of Education and Professional Development at Baptist Health Richmond, shares how donor support helped bring the Commonwealth Credit Union Experiential Simulation Lab to life, creating new opportunities for staff education, patient safety and the community.