Samaritan Health Services and Pomona-based Western University of Health Sciences have begun construction of the Samaritan Health Sciences Center and College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest Campus.
The partners broke ground on the future campus on June 23 at an event attended by more than 400 people. This college will be only the second medical school in Oregon, and the first to open in 100 years. As the campus develops, it will offer a variety of other health professions programs in addition to a conference and events center, hotel and retail complex and other support services.
Construction will begin this summer on the first phase of the project, which will include the first phase of the medical school, roadwork and utilities. COMP Northwest will seat its first class of medical students in the fall of 2011.
After more than two years of discussions and multiple site visits, the two organizations have entered a 20-year lease agreement whereby Samaritan will own the facility and Western U will lease it for COMP Northwest.
Larry Mullins, CEO of SHS, said this partnership is historic because “this is the first time that two nonprofits have come together from the academic and provider side of the house to create something that didn’t require one penny of state or federal support.”
He also said the jobs that will be created, and the physicians who will be trained at the new school, “will serve our communities well.”
Western President Philip Pumerantz said SHS and the university complement each other well because both organizations share the same values and caring approach to medicine.
“We are doing more than constructing a building,” he said. “This is a promise that we will educate physicians who will treat and care for thousands of patients. That’s the real job we’re doing.”
Benjamin Cohen, provost and chief operating officer at Western, said that a project like this can only happen with “big, bold leadership, and we are unusually blessed with great leaders.”
Lebanon Mayor Ken Toomb, City Council President Bob Elliott and City Manager John Hitt all praised the leadership of SHS and Western for making this possible.
“Five, 10, 20 years from now, we’ll all marvel at the economic impact this will have on Lebanon,” Hitt said.
In addition to osteopathic medicine, other programs under consideration for the campus include nursing, physical therapy, paramedic training and other health-related professions, Mullins said. Although many of the programs would be developed in conjunction with Western, Mullins said Legacy Health Systems and Linn-Benton Community College have expressed interest in having a presence on the campus for their own educational, clinical, outreach and research programs. Discussions are also taking place with other potential partners.
The health campus project represents the next step in a growing partnership between Samaritan and Western, Mullins said. The two are currently collaborating on a program that places third- and fourth-year medical students in a series of clinical rotations with Samaritan-affiliated hospitals. SHS has also begun a residency program in the disciplines of family medicine, psychology, internal medicine. A total of 11 residents started the programs in June 2009.
“There is a strong link between where physicians do their training and where they end up practicing medicine, so we believe these steps will greatly strengthen our ability to recruit and retain outstanding physicians to the area,” Mullins said. “Most of the medical students here now are from the Pacific Northwest, and they have encouraged us to establish residency programs so they can stay in this area after medical school.”
Mullins said SHS will also continue to pursue medical education opportunities in partnership with Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University and other higher education institutions. SHS, OHSU and OSU signed a letter of intent in 2007 to host OHSU medical students in Corvallis as part of their training, but that program has not yet been funded by the Legislature.
SHS currently offers educational experiences to more than 900 students annually at its various locations, including the Health Career and Training Center at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. The center provides classroom and laboratory space for a number of health occupations in conjunction with Linn-Benton Community College
Approximately 2,300 students currently attend Western, which offers graduate programs in pharmacy, nursing, veterinary medicine, and allied health professions in addition to osteopathic medicine. The university also opened four new programs in 2009: dentistry, optometry, podiatry and graduate biomedical sciences.
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