LINCOLN — The latest $95 million structure to open on a rural health education complex in Kearney is expected to double the number of health care students on the campus, to about 625.

That three-story, 110,000-square-foot building opens to full occupancy this month and will enable the University of Nebraska Medical Center to offer — for the first time — medicine, pharmacy and public health programs on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus.

It joins the original $19 million Health Science Education Center I, which opened in 2015 and focuses on allied health and nursing.

Together, the two buildings will be known as the Douglas A. Kristensen Rural Health Education Complex, a name revealed publicly this week. Lead donor, the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, requested the complex be christened in honor of the former UNK chancellor. 

UNK and UNMC, the state’s only public academic health science center, in a news release described the expanded Kearney complex as the largest rural healthcare teaching facility in the country.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the NU system, said it was “historic” for the state in that the campus will “significantly improve” the state’s ability to provide a healthcare workforce.

Currently, 83% of Nebraska’s practicing healthcare providers are located in metropolitan areas, while only about 65% of the state’s population lives in those communities, state officials said.

“Students no longer must leave central Nebraska to access a world-class healthcare education,” UNK Chancellor Neal Schnoor said. “They can learn here, train here and ultimately build their careers and lives here.”

He said that matters not only for students but for the future of rural Nebraska, where a strong healthcare workforce can serve as a catalyst for economic growth.

Nebraska officials expect UNMC healthcare enrollment in Kearney to grow to about 625 students, nearly doubling its current presence at the state campus.

The newest building, Gold noted, is the result of a public-private partnership boosted by $60 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated by the Nebraska Legislature. The City of Kearney allocated $5 million and Central Community College, $1.5 million. 

The philanthropic community committed $28.5 million to support construction. So far an additional $5.8 million has been committed to support the UNK Endowed Fund for Rural Health Initiatives, which includes an effort to recruit students from smaller Nebraska cities and prepare them to practice healthcare in rural areas.

Overall, officials said, the Kristensen complex will host 14 academic programs: cardiovascular interventional technology, diagnostic medical sonography, magnetic resonance imaging, medical laboratory science, medical nutrition, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, radiation therapy, radiography (all UNMC programs) and speech-language pathology (a UNK program).

UNMC interim chancellor H. Dele Davies said in a statement that a Thursday celebration at the Kristensen complex marked more than the official opening of the second teaching building.

“This new health sciences complex stands as a promise: the promise that students should be able to pursue their dream of becoming a healthcare professional close to home, near the communities that shaped who they are.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nu-officials-celebrate-opening-of-medical-school-expanded-rural-health-teaching-complex-in-kearney/