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Houston Businessman Gives $25,000
for
Surgical and Clinical Skills Center
Highly complex simulated learning center will allow students to experience real-life scenarios
It didn’t take much convincing for one Houston businessman to see the need to establish a Surgical and Clinical Skills Center at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Jeb Bashaw
“I just talked to Dr. Schultz and Dr. Brent King and was impressed with their work and the impact this facility will have on the Medical School and the physicians in training,” explained Jeb Bashaw, president and CEO of James E. Bashaw, a Houston investment firm.
Following that conversation, Bashaw, a native Houstonian, gave a $25,000 gift to the Medical School’s Surgical and Clinical Skills Center (SCSC) – a new educational resource, which is scheduled to open in 2006.
“We greatly appreciate generous donors like Jeb, who understand our vision for the future of medical education,” said Stanley Schultz, M.D., dean of the Medical School.
Brent King, M.D., who is professor and chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine, chairs the SCSC steering committee.
The SCSC, which will be an 11,400 square-foot facility in the basement, promises to be an important resource for Medical School students in all years of the curriculum, as well as for residents, fellows, faculty, other practicing physicians, and industry and hospital partners. It will feature both clinical training through patient-actors and simulated learning with mannequins.
One of the many high-fidelity tools that will be used at the Surgical and Clinical Skills
Center at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston is the Human Patient
Simulator, known as “Stan” (short for Standard Man). Produced by Medical Education
Technologies Inc., the simulator realistically mimics human biological functions and
reactions. (Photo courtesy of Medical Education Technologies Inc.)
The SCSC will be the home of the Medical School’s standardized patient program, complete with 14 patient rooms, video control and monitoring rooms, and upgraded video equipment and software. For the past several years, this program has operated in leased space from the Houston Medical Center.
The highly complex simulated learning center will allow students to repeatedly experience real-life scenarios with mannequins that simulate normal breath, blood pressure and other key vital signs that can respond to treatment. It was these simulators that caught Bashaw’s attention.
“Anyone can give money to have their name on a building, but not everyone can have their name on a dummy,” he laughed, adding that he has not yet decided upon the name of the mannequin that he has donated to the SCSC. “My kids, 16-year-old Mason and 13-year-old Travis, and my wife, Kim, will help me decide.”
Bashaw’s Tanglewood-based business manages more than $500 million for Houston investors and their families. “I’ve been in the business more than 20 years and started the firm four years ago,” he said.
Bashaw, a new member of the UT Health Science Center at Houston Development Board, is no stranger to philanthropy, having served in numerous volunteer capacities across Houston, including chair of the development board for the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston.
“I’ve been very impressed with my short affiliation with the school so far – my experiences have been spectacular. This is a great organization, and I’m excited about the impact the Surgical and Clinical Skills Center will have on the training of the students,” Bashaw said.
By Darla Brown, Medical School