New five-story medical training facility opens in Fayetteville

The new five-story, 120,000-square-foot building is located on the campus of Cape Fear Valley Medical Center at the corner of Owen Drive and Melrose Road.

"In just our first two graduating classes, we retained 50% of our graduating physicians,” Cape Fear Valley Health System CEO Mike Nagowski “The other 50%, [half] of them went on to do fellowships.

“So, the proof's in the pudding."

Cape Fear Valley Health leaders broke ground on the facility in January 2021.

The institute can train 300 resident physicians at a time. The latest technology is a big draw.

A mannequin named Hal offers some of the most advanced medical simulation intelligence on the market.

"You can do strokes all the way to the point he'll do facial droops,” said Cape Fear Valley Health simulation coordinator mark Rose. “He'll do arm drifts, he'll respond to your commands [and at the level of stroke you want to set it to."

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Amy Byrd's father was a doctor at Cape Fear Valley Hospital from 1955 -1988. He delivered around 10,000 babies. Byrd, a Fayetteville resident, said her father would be blown away by the new medical technology.

"I wish he could have seen the technology, but he did so good with what he had” Byrd said of her father. “This is amazing.

“This is how we can better train residents, and then, we need good medical care in our community. So, this is just wonderful."

Dr. Scott Klenzak said he is impressed with the institute.

“They're going to be staying here,” Klenzak said of the residents who will be trained at the facility. “They're going to be interacting with each other.

“They're going to get trained here. We’ve got this world-class [simulation] lab here. it means everything. It's incredible.”

Next week, resident physicians will start taking classes at the building with the new technology.