BUFFALO, N.Y. — A new project is taking shape on Buffalo's West Side to meet health care needs of the community and better prepare students to become health care professionals in the future.
They expect that this $27 million project called the Hub on the D'Youville campus will be open for the students and residents come February.
This dream project which is supported by the state, private funding, and a partnership with Catholic Health actually began a few years ago with this vision, according to D'Youville President Dr. Lorrie Clemo.
She calls it, "A unique teaching clinic set in a community which is in great need."
That need is to provide Buffalo's West Side with basic health care and to offer other services like occupational and physical therapy, a pharmacy, and even chiropractic services.
But also it can help to train the health care providers of tomorrow. With a growing demand in the region, the goal is to have some 10,000 health field staffers by the year 2025.
Dr. Clemo says, "It's hard to keep pace with trying to reach that goal of 10,000, so we knew we had to expand our program in order to keep up with that pace, so that was another reason for building the Hub."
And the Catholic Health System needs those graduates. Joyce Markiewicz is an Executive Vice President for Business Development with Catholic Health.
She said, "The clinic that is going to be on the first floor is gonna be just a remarkable clinic with 20 exam rooms. And we're building these exam rooms large enough so that students can be part of the care delivery system. There's also going to be an integration of both the faculty and Catholic health employees coming together to provide the care for the community but also to educate the students. And we're really excited about that."
Nate Marton, Vice President of Operations for D'Youville College, added: "So all of our students who are in all of our health care disciplines on campus will actually be able to be in the building in a clinical setting."
That enthusiasm, of course, extends to students who get a brand new facility to enhance their training, even with expanded simulation space to practice before actually dealing with real patients.
Tim Kreuz said, "As a student really I'm gonna be able to come in here and build my confidence with actors in what's gonna be the sim center."
Reb Beltrano added, "We'll be learning in a very integrative environment and it's gonna be very important for us to form inter-professional relationships with other professions."
And Chanelle Garcia points out, "I' m just excited for this project. It's very innovative, it's very different, so it's definitely going to be something new for D'Youville."
Additionally the idea is to offer lower income West Side residents an opportunity to pursue a health care career. To help accomoplish that goal D'Youville has received a $2.25 Million dollar federal grant.
Dr. Clemo says: "That grant will be instrumental in helping us retain students and also to help graduate students that are low income, first generation students. So we'll be putting in support systems including some data analysts as well as some student success coaches that will help those students stay in school and cross the finish line."