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FSU SIGNS LETTER OF INTENT TO ESTABLISH IMMOKALEE HEALTH CENTER by Jill Elish
NCH Healthcare System will help Florida State University's College
of Medicine establish a training program focusing on rural health in
Immokalee, Fla., an area that is home to many poor farm and migrant
workers.
FSU President T.K. Wetherell and NCH Chief Executive Officer Edward
A. Morton signed a letter of intent in which the NCH Healthcare
System will donate the 28,000-square-foot Isabel Collier Read
Building, its underlying land and adjacent parking areas to the FSU
Foundation to house the new program. The program will offer primary
health care services to the community and provide educational
experiences to FSU medical students.
"We are most appreciative of this gift," Wetherell said. "This will
give FSU the opportunity to provide some needed services to an
underserved area, while at the same time giving our students
tremendous experience. It's a win-win situation for the community
and the university."
Morton agreed.
"Such a program will provide an excellent educational opportunity
for students, while at the same time providing an additional avenue
for the Immokalee community to access healthcare services closer to
home," he said. "We welcome the opportunity to participate with FSU
in this cause. We believe that NCH's involvement will provide a
unique opportunity for medical education in this diverse county."
The program, which is designed with the expectation of state funding
to operate the center, has the support of the Collier County area
legislative delegation. FSU will ask the Florida Legislature for
$2.2 million in recurring funds to operate the center and a one-time
allocation of $5 million to renovate the facility. Wetherell will
meet with the delegation to finalize the budget request for the
project.
"In addition to the academic and health care components, this will
bring an economic development incentive to an underserved part of
the state," Wetherell said. "We are bringing professional staff,
students and significant operating and construction budgets to
Immokalee. This program will have a positive impact on this
community in so many ways."
The proposal calls for FSU medical students, along with students
from other academic areas such as nursing, social work and
psychology, to work with the local health care community. The
College of Medicine will provide a faculty member on site to
supervise the educational program and work with local physicians who
will serve as clinical faculty.
When the program is fully implemented, selected medical students
will fulfill several of the required third-year clinical clerkships
at the teaching site. In addition, students from the medical
school's four regional campuses throughout the state will have the
opportunity to do rural health rotations in Immokalee.
"We are excited about this project because it is consistent with our
mission, which focuses on the needs of rural, elderly and other
underserved populations, and it enables us to provide innovative
educational experiences," said College of Medicine Dean J. Ocie
Harris. "We look forward to working with Naples Community Hospital,
the local medical community and Collier Health Services Inc. to
bring this program to fruition."
FSU College of Medicine will affiliate with the NCH Healthcare
System and its medical staff to provide the required educational
experiences that cannot be provided at the Immokalee site.
Physicians on NCH staff will be given the opportunity to apply for
an FSU College of Medicine faculty appointment. FSU will develop
elective rotations at the NCH Healthcare System facilities including
Naples Community Hospital and North Collier Hospital for Students.
In return, FSU will provide the NCH Healthcare System with 5,000
square feet of space in the Isabel Collier Read Building to use for
medical or medically related charitable purposes.
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