Shawnee Mission Health Celebrates Opening of New Zamierowski Simulation Center, Rodgers Conference Center

With the opening of the new Zamierowski Simulation Center and Rodgers Conference Center on the Shawnee Mission Medical Center (SMMC) campus, Shawnee Mission Health (SMH) is now better equipped to support the ongoing educational needs of its physicians, nurses, and associates, resulting in a higher standard of patient care.

These new facilities are the final components of the hospital's $22 million renovations of the first floor of the original hospital tower at SMMC. The project, which began in 2014, is part of a three-phase Master Plan to modernize the campus to better serve patients and employees. The first-floor transformation includes state-of-the-art conference and education spaces, the new Harvest Kitchen dining area, a physician lounge, medical staff offices and an updated administrative suite.

Simulation training has been increasingly adopted as a teaching tool in medical and nursing schools. Thanks to a generous lead gift from David Zamierowski, MD, SMH is one of the first community hospital networks in the region to offer an on-site simulation center for continuing education. The Zamierowski Simulation Center enables practitioners to maintain and improve skills, safely try new procedures and equipment and simulate high-risk situations, so they are prepared when called upon in an emergency. It provides a multi-disciplinary space where physicians, nurses and support staff even housekeeping and dietary staff can collaborate to improve processes and protocols.

"I'm passionate about this new Simulation Center because Shawnee Mission Health has always been a leader in health care, investing in employee advancement and training," said Zamierowski. "Learning through experience and debriefing produces more rapid understanding, performance improvement and greater retention resulting in better patient care and outcomes. This is just another example of why Shawnee Mission Medical Center is the first and only hospital in the Kansas City area with a five-star CMS rating."

The Rodgers Conference Center offers state-of-the-art conference rooms for staff training, community education classes and community meetings. This new facility, made possible by a generous gift from Foundation for SMMC Board Member Tim Rodgers and his wife Susan, will significantly enhance the hospitals educational offerings.

SMH has worked with a local team of construction and design partners on the renovation including ACI Boland Architects; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers Henderson Engineers, Inc.; civil engineers Bob D. Campbell & Co., Inc.; general contractor JE Dunn Construction and interior designer Meghan Dudek with Benson Wedd.