Events
College Breaks Ground on Simulation Hospital
Campus Expansion Will Prepare More Health Care Professionals
RALEIGH, NC (September 16, 2025) – Wake County's health care workforce pipeline will soon get a major shot in the arm with an expansion at Wake Tech's Perry Health Sciences Campus, adjacent to WakeMed in Raleigh.
The college broke ground Tuesday on what will be a simulation hospital, providing realistic multi-disciplinary training for a variety of health care specialties. It will be one of the largest and most comprehensive such facilities in the country.
"Leaders with the Wake Tech Facilities team worked closely with our important partners at Wake County and WakeMed to come up with a plan to transfer land, make infrastructure improvements and create a Health and Education District for this area, which will serve our community for years to come," said Wake Tech President Dr. Scott Ralls. "So, today is not just a Wake Tech celebration – it's really a celebration for all of us!"
Local government, industry and community leaders joined Wake Tech officials in celebrating the start of construction. The three-story, 100,000-square-foot simulation hospital will enable Wake Tech to train more health care professionals in a comprehensive, realistic setting – from the patient check-in area to a simulated emergency department, operating rooms, imaging and other diagnostic testing labs to a simulated nursing center and patient rooms.
"This facility will prepare students in a true interdisciplinary setting," said Wake Tech Executive Vice President and Interim Health Sciences Provost Dr. Nicole Reaves. "Not only will they learn skills in their respective fields, but also how to collaborate across the specialties, which they will have to do in the real world."
The simulation hospital will have the following features:
- Patient check-in
- Emergency room
- Operating room
- Advanced imaging center
- Diagnostic labs
- Nurses station
- Patient rooms
- Neurodiagnostic Technology lab
- Respiratory Therapy lab
- Moulage prep room
- Anatomage room
- Simulation apartment
The facility will also allow the college to expand its popular Nursing program, as well as other programs such as Radiography, CT and MRI, Medical Assisting, Neurodiagnostic Technology and the college's newest program, Respiratory Therapy, which launched this semester.
"Our county is growing because of our strong economy and job growth," said Wake County Board of Commissioners Chair Susan Evans. "It's also our educational system, including our top colleges and universities, and it's our health care system, with some of the world's leading institutions right here in our backyard to help keep us healthy and well."
The Perry Health Sciences Campus expansion is being funded with $121 million from the Workforce Forward bond, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2022. The project includes infrastructure, road improvements and a four-level parking deck. It's being made possible through a unique collaboration between Wake Tech, Wake County and WakeMed, called the Wake III Partnership. The three entities worked with the City of Raleigh to establish a Health & Education District, creating a framework for land transactions and giving the college space to expand – now and in the future.
"It wasn't about who gave the most land, who gave the most money, who got the most credit," said WakeMed President and Chief Executive Donald Gintzig. "It was about what's really going to help us do what we're trying to do."
More than 3,500 students attend class at the Perry Health Sciences Campus each year. About 3,000 more are enrolled in general education and science classes, hoping to secure a spot in one of the college's high-demand allied health programs. Wake Tech has the largest Associate Degree Nursing program in the state, and graduates of most Wake Tech Health Sciences programs average a 100% passing rate on their licensure exams. Most Health Sciences students are employed even before they graduate.
Former Olympic track athlete and Wake Tech Nursing graduate Shana Cox spoke on behalf of Health Sciences students. Cox now works as a cardiovascular ICU nurse at WakeMed.
"Every day, I'm faced with new and challenging situations, and I feel fully prepared for them thanks to my experience at Wake Tech," she said.
Thanks to significant private investments, Wake Tech leaders also made several naming announcements at the ceremony:
- The new facility will share the name of the campus. It will be called the Perry Family Simulation Hospital in recognition of a significant investment from benefactors Jim and Becky Perry.
- WakeMed, UNC Health and Duke Health will each have significant spaces named in their honor in the new facility.
- Building A, which has been the home of the Martha Mann School of Nursing and other state-of-the-art allied health instruction since 2013, will be named Hazlehurst Hall, in recognition of retired surgeon and benefactor Dr. John Hazlehurst.
The Perry Family Simulation Hospital and parking deck are designed by BSA LifeStructures and will be constructed by Brasfield & Gorrie. Wake Tech's Project Manager is Sarah Burnette. The project is scheduled to be completed in time for classes in Fall 2027.
Future plans at the Perry Health Sciences Campus call for tearing down two aging buildings and constructing another state-of-the-art training facility. Wake Tech also plans to add health sciences training at its new Conlon Western Wake Campus when it opens near the future North Carolina Children's Hospital in Apex.
