HEALTH SCIENCE EDUCATION COMPLEX GROUNDBREAKING
When: 1 p.m. Friday, April 4
Where: Project site, corner of Highway 30 and University Drive, west edge of UNK campus
Who: UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen, UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold, state and local dignitaries, faculty, students, staff. The public is invited to attend.
Contact: Todd Gottula, 308.865.8454, gottulatm@unk.edu
KEARNEY – Health-care education and access for central and western Nebraska will take a giant step forward on Friday (April 4) when ground is broken
at a 1 p.m. ceremony for a new University of Nebraska project: The Health Science Education Complex at University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The collaboration between University of Nebraska Medical Center and UNK will take the physical form of a $19 million building at the corner of Highway 30 and University Drive on the west edge of UNK’s campus, and comes after more than two years of discussion and planning, development of programs and fundraising. The majority of funding comes from a 2012 Nebraska Legislative Appropriation through the universitywide Building a Healthier Nebraska initiative. A $1 million donation from Catholic Health Initiatives/Good
Samaritan Hospital also helps with the project.
Project architect, RDg Planning and Design, has made available renderings of the facility, and construction begins April 1. It will open in June 2015. Hausmann Construction is the construction contractor.
The vision of UNK and UNMC is to build a nationally recognized learning and research environment that promotes education in rural primary care, generates scientific discoveries and new knowledge about rural health, and enhances strategies to promote high-quality primary care in rural communities by creating academic and community partnerships around rural health problems and opportunities.
UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen and UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold will keynote the ceremony. The public is welcome to attend. Parking is available in Lot 26 west of the Frank House.
Some facts about the Health Science Education Complex:
- 30,000 square feet
- 7 programs: nursing and graduate nursing (expanded from current), physician assistants, physical therapy, clinical laboratory science, medical nutrition, radiography, diagnostic medical sonography (allied health professions)
- Projected additional full-time personnel: 25
- Total full-time personnel: 46
- Annual economic impact: $30.5 million (study by UNO Center for Public Affairs Research)
- Numbers of students in Nursing: 168 (includes 133 new/additional students)
- Numbers of students in Allied Health Professions: 132 (all new/additional)
- Total students in undergraduate and graduate programs: 300
- Number of classrooms: 7
- Number of laboratories: 5 (anatomy, rehabilitation, musculoskeletal, assessment, task training)
- Number of simulation areas: 14 (4 clinical exam rooms, 4 control rooms, 3 simulation rooms, changing room, debriefing, energized radiography)
-30-
This is wonderful to bring more educational opportunities to our area. There are many adult students like myself who will be blessed by this and grateful.
It is always good to see educational facilities being expanded, particularly in critical fields such as health care. It is also good to see schools, particularly those supported by the state, collaborating to improve access to services in their communities. Let us hope that the project is successful, so that other schools will be encouraged to emulate it.
This is indeed a great move from UNMC. It is high time people should realize importance of health education and how it affects humanity. Looking forward to more such advances :).