Iona University Nursing Students Collaborate with Eastchester Fire District for Emergency Response Training
Students provided care in a building fire simulation exercise on Iona’s Bronxville Campus
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — Iona University nursing students collaborated with the Eastchester Fire District – which provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the Town of Eastchester and Villages of Tuckahoe and Bronxville – to participate in a simulated fire exercise on March 9. Designed to provide nursing students with multi-agency mass casualty training, over 25 members of the Eastchester Fire Department and Eastchester Volunteer Ambulance Corps took part in the scenario, simulating a building fire that featured nursing faculty and students playing victims with life-threatening injuries.
“Having the opportunity to use what we learn in the classroom in a real-world scenario was a valuable experience,” Leslie Torres ’23 said. “This is something that none of us have experienced before, so it was great to learn firsthand what to expect in a level one trauma.”
The exercise took place on Iona’s new Bronxville campus and included fire alarms, smoke machines that produced non-toxic smoke, and other tools to make the exercise feel as real as possible. Nursing students worked quickly to provide medical assistance to those in need, evaluating the severity of the injuries of each victim.
“We were thrilled to partner with Iona University to help train our engine and ladder rescue members, while also expanding our knowledge and skills as we teamed up with Iona’s nursing department,” Eastchester Fire Chief Brian Tween said. “Any training is good training, and being able to take it a step further right in our community will help us all prepare for future emergencies.”
Iona’s nursing students take classes at the new Kelly Center for Health Sciences in Bronxville, serving as the flagship building of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences.
Established in July 2021 and supported by a $20 million gift, the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences offers a new vision for collaborative education, modern workforce development and community care. NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently ranked one of the nation’s top hospitals and is also a leader in medical education in collaboration with two renowned medical schools: Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2024 national list of “The Best 389 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.