LEBANON, Mo. — Ozarks Tech is partnering with the City of Lebanon and the Lebanon R-3 School District to open a state-of-the-art medical simulation lab to train current and future health care workers and help ease the region’s workforce shortage.
After local leaders identified a significant shortage of health care providers in Lebanon and Laclede County, the city, school district and Ozarks Tech joined forces to open a facility for hands-on instruction nearby at the Robert Plaster Center for Student Success.
The City of Lebanon invested $1 million in the new lab, which Ozarks Tech will operate. The 3,500-square-foot facility includes four advanced simulation rooms equipped with high-fidelity mannequins that can breathe, talk and respond like real patients.
Instructors can program a variety of scenarios, allowing students the chance to practice everything from taking vital signs to performing emergency interventions in a realistic, low-pressure environment where they can learn from mistakes.
The lab will also serve as a regional training hub for provider partners CoxHealth, Jordan Valley Community Health Center, Lake Regional Health Center and Mercy Hospital Lebanon. The lab can be used for team drills, continuing education and emergency preparedness exercises. The Lebanon site is Ozark’s Tech second such facility; the college also operates the Center of Excellence for Medical Simulation on the Springfield campus.
Gov. Mike Kehoe joined Lebanon Mayor Jared Carr, Lebanon R-3 Superintendent David Schmitz and Ozarks Tech Chancellor Hal Higdon at the lab on Thursday, Oct. 30, to celebrate the opening and highlight the collaboration behind it.
Special recognition is due to Dusty Childress, president of the Ozarks Tech Education Centers, for helping bring city and school district leaders together to complete the project. The lab is expected to open for training as early as January 2026.
This is the college’s second major initiative in the past few months aimed at strengthening the region’s health care workforce. In August, Ozarks Tech helped formally launch the Alliance for Healthcare Education, a Springfield-based collaboration among education, health care and government partners to reduce training costs and expand access to health care education and training.
Photos courtesy Staff Photographer Kristina Bridges