Tennessee Tech nursing students are seeing a donation from an alumnus come to life.
In October 2016, Scott Edwards and his wife Mary Alice gave $100,000 to the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing specifically for the purchase of a SimMan, which is an advanced patient simulator that can display realistic symptoms and feedback like a living patient.
Scott and Mary Alice Edwards generosity have allowed us to upgrade our technology to provide a better learning environment for our students, said Huey-Ming Tzeng, dean of the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing. We are so grateful that we could honor another Edwards family member in this space.
The SimMan is named Earl after Scott s grandfather. It resides in Bell Hall Room 361 which is the Critical Care Lab, previously named in honor of Scott s mother, Virginia L. Edwards, a trained emergency room and operating room nurse.
Scott and Mary Alice saw their donation come to life recently when a trio of nursing students performed a demonstration of how the SimMan reacts to treatment.
This is wonderful. These students are the future in nursing and the medical field, Scott said. To see the level of training they are getting is wonderful.
Scott wasn t the only one impressed with Earl. The students were also pleased to see this generous gift come to life in the classroom.
It is very realistic. It did everything a real patient would, said senior nursing major Danielle Willis. It would respond to whatever interventions that we did either positive or negative.
It s very helpful. It s so realistic, said senior nursing major Brittany Carlberg. It s a great experience for a mannequin to respond to exactly what you are doing.
Besides the initial donation of $100,000, Scott has been giving an additional $2,000 a month for equipment upkeep and upgrades for the SimMan.
At some point these students will be able to help other nursing students or someone in another field, Scott said. It s wonderful to see what they are doing with this new technology. They are going to be so much more prepared when they get their diploma than they were before.
Scott (business management 87) has a history of giving time, attention, and resources to Tech. A native of Allardt, he serves as CEO of Micro Metals in Fentress County, an industry leader and global supplier of powder metal components to automotive, appliance, and garden equipment industries. Scott and Mary Alice (accounting 89) joined the company after graduation and have started several endowments at Tech.
In 2004, Scott and Mary Alice, along with his family, received the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy for making significant monetary contributions and encouraging others to support and attend Tech.
The Edwards gift of the SimMan, as well as their gifts to other areas within the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing, are changing the way we educate future nurses through simulation, technology, equipment, and programs, Tzeng said. We are very appreciative of Scott and Mary Alice.
