As soon as the fall of 2012, medical buildings along Carew Street, south of Parkview Hospital, will become classrooms and laboratories. As many as 1,000 students – from high school to doctoral programs – will work and study in the facilities, Parkview officials say.
Eventually, they expect about 3,000 students to participate in programs offered through a new “Life Science Education and Research Consortium of Northeast Indiana” explained in a Thursday morning news conference.
“I'm very excited for this neighborhood and the potential opportunities this announcement brings,” said Sue Ehinger, chief operating officer of Parkview Hospital.
The hospital and several area educational institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding outlining their shared interest in pursuing a range of educational programs there. The schools involved are Fort Wayne Community Schools, Huntington University, Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast, Trine University and University of Saint Francis.
Ehinger said that populating the Parkview campus on state with so many students and instructors will help preserve the vitality of the neighborhood. It also dovetails with three major areas of health care that Parkview plans to continue providing there: rehabilitation, mental-health care and senior care.
She said the education consortium helps ensure that a strong presence will remain in the neighborhood “for many, many generations to come.”
The transformation of the Fort Wayne Cardiology and Carew Medical Park buildings will come as much of the medical work at Parkview is being moved to Parkview Regional Medical Center. That $536 million project is due to be substantially completed in November, with a transition of equipping the new hospital and training its staff that will occupy the winter. Parkview officials say the medical center will open to in-patients on March 17.
A large medical presence will remain at the longtime location of Parkview Hospital at Randallia Drive and East State Boulevard. Latest plans call for at least 120 beds, all in private rooms, with 24-hour emergency room, surgical suites, physician offices and a sleep center.
