Cincinnati State Technical and Community College has verbally agreed to a lease, and Economic Development Director Mike Robinette said it is anticipated that Wright State University also will lease some classroom space.
“I think Miami is interested because these are programs the region needs and programs Ohio needs,” Bishop-Clark said.
The project has been in the making for several years but hit a temporary snag, Robinette said, when Sinclair Community College withdrew its plans to be a part of the initial launching. The college is listed as the designee for a $1 million grant from the state capital budget to help fund the project.
Sinclair “will continue to monitor the progress” of the academy, Megan Laughter, assistant to the president for Sinclair, said in a statement.
Miami has applied to become the grant designee, and the change will be considered at the Nov. 22 state Controlling Board meeting. Robinette said if all goes well, final contracts should be ready Nov. 23 with construction commencing in December.
The controlling board agenda has not yet been published for the meeting.
Greentree initially would be about 30,000 square feet with room to expand. The facility would be located on the north side of Atrium between Innovation Drive and Campus Loop Road. As a partner, the hospital would offer students the chance to participate in clinicals and internships there, said spokeswoman Wendy Parks.
Robinette said Middletown is the financing agency by issuing $5.2 million in bonds to fund construction, with Greentree leasing the facility until the debt is repaid. Classes are expected to begin in fall 2011.
Once it’s built, Greentree Health Sciences Academy will be an innovative facility for housing programs from high school up to master’s degree classes under one roof on a hospital campus
Miami University is one of four partners close to a deal on the health sciences school to be constructed on the Atrium Medical Center campus. The Oxford-based university will then sublease space to “a variety of different institutions,” said Cathy Bishop-Clark, associate dean of Miami University Middletown.
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College has verbally agreed to a lease. There have also been talks with Sinclair Community College and Wright State University of Dayton, Bishop-Clark said.
“There is going to be increased demand for health care workers,” she said. “It’s a really innovative and exciting idea.”
The school could open fall of next year depending on when construction starts. When it opens, she said, courses will offer a seamless transition from high school on.
Warren County Career Center, one of the four main partners, has offered health care courses since 2003. High school students in the two-year program learn about patient care, dental assisting, nursing, medical terminology, phlebotomy and information management as well as participate in internships at Atrium, said Peg Allen, a spokeswoman for the career center. At least 100 high school students are expected to be in the program next year.
The career center also offers adult programs in medical assisting, medical billing and coding and as medical technicians, among others, with expected enrollment of 300 to 400 students in the next year, according to Allen.
Initially, Miami University will offer a bachelor’s of science in nursing and a nursing program for people with associate’s degrees. Bishop-Clark also said Miami would like to eventually offer bachelor’s degrees in health information technology and integrated studies for those with associate degrees.
Bob White, spokesman for Cincinnati State, said the college will lease lab and classroom space from Miami at the academy. The school plans to offer courses in its allied health program at Greentree, which would include its respiratory care and paramedic program.
Cincinnati State will also partner with the career center and Miami to “stack” programming and degrees to allow for a more seamless transition between high school offerings, bachelor’s degrees and the associate degree programs it offers.
“We have our eye on the bigger picture so students can plan on getting their associate’s at Cincinnati and go on to get their bachelor’s at Miami,” he said. “You can plan a longer range educational path.”
In addition to the Miami campus already in Middletown, the city is also in negotiations with Cincinnati State to open a branch campus here. Middletown, which has traditionally been heavily involved in manufacturing, is not so much changing its identity as leveraging its growth in the education field for more development opportunities, said Mike Robinette, the city’s economic development director. “It’s sort of like a double barrel economic development project because the education options will enhance opportunities for citizens in the area to be more employable and it will also bring more (secondary) development to the area because of the training and increased skill opportunities,” he said.
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