Listening to SimMan's vital signs are student Patrice Pantin, Sen. Harry Reid, School of Nursing Dean Martha N. Hill, student Chris Reed, Sen. Paul Sarbanes and Sen. Barbara Mikulski. PHOTO BY JOSEPH A. KEMP

By Kelly Brooks-Staub
School of Nursing

Three U.S. senators — Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), minority leader of the Senate — joined three students from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing last week for a panel discussion titled "Higher Education: America Can Do Better." The event, held Dec. 8 in the school's Alumni Auditorium, explored the need for federal student loans and the potential impact of cuts to loan programs.

The three undergraduates — Chris Reed, Julie Story and Patrice Pantin — spoke of the necessity of having federal loans to finance their nursing education.

"We know that you have come into nursing to change lives and to save lives," Mikulski told the audience of nursing students. "The benefits of education accrue not only to you but to the nation as a whole. And therefore the nation as a whole should provide an opportunity ladder for you to achieve that dream.

"Significant cuts to student aid are absolutely unacceptable," she said. "I believe that America can do better."

After the panel discussion, the students gave the senators a demonstration of SimMan, a universal patient simulator. Attached to a personal computer and controlled by software, the SimMan manikin can talk, breathe, cough and even moan.

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