DUBLIN, Ga. — If you want to be a nurse, and live in or around Dublin, you're in luck.
Middle Georgia State University has a brand new nursing facility, and it just opened Friday in the Emerald City.
Imagine walking into a college nursing classroom and having a lifelike, or, almost lifelike patient in the room. Middle Georgia State has a permanent patient, and her name is Anne.
"You can see we actually have a rise and fall in her chest. She's actually breathing for us," explained Denise Adams, an instructor at the school.
Anne breathes. She coughs. She screams, too. Anne is a multi-talented mannequin.
"We can talk for her. So we are not in the room. We are on the outside of the room. A one-way mirror," Adams said.
Anne is one of the newest tools at Middle Georgia State's Dublin campus. She's part of a $6.8 million expansion of the school's nursing program. The building officially reopened Friday. It includes two other simulation labs with patients like Anne, and a 20-bed skills lab with regular mannequins.
"I'm so excited for our community. This can't do anything but help this community continue to grow. Because we all need great healthcare," said State Rep. Matt Hatchett, who represents District 150.
He was there to help open the facility, along with State Sen. Larry Walker. Hatchett was born in the building when it was Laurens County Hospital.
Karen Core also has some history with the place. She got her first nursing job at Laurens County Hospital. One of the two new lecture halls is named in her honor. She had some advice for up-and-coming nurses.
"You treat your patients like you would your mother and your father. Because if you don't, you will not be working here much longer," she said.
Luckily, now, this place is a spot to learn and grow. Denise Adams will make sure there's plenty of learning to go around.
The building officially opens to students just in time for the new semester on Wednesday. The university says they'll admit 100 nursing students each year to the Dublin campus. That's up from their current admission number of 60. They also plan to bring their Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to Dublin.