Southwest Florida leaders are united in recognizing the region’s health care needs are growing and call for action.
That reality was on display Wednesday on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University for a groundbreaking of the university’s latest academic building, a four-story complex that will become Marieb Hall South.
The 158,000-square foot complex, the largest to be built to date on the 28-year-old FGCU, will house academics in five health care disciplines with current and emerging technology critical in preparing future generations of health care professionals.
A figure for how many students will be based at the future complex was not readily available.
Roughly 150 representatives across various sectors in the health care industry, in education, business and technology attended Wednesday’s event.
Construction of the complex is expected to be completed in spring 2029. The state Legislature has approved $117 million for phase one and $27 million is pending for phase two.
“Here students will train using cutting edge simulation technology,” FGCU President Aysegul Timur said. “They will learn not only how to provide care but how to lead, innovate and serve with compassion.
“This building will house transformational initiatives like the Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging and the Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disability initiative, two programs that reflect FGCU’s deep commitment to serving every member of our Southwest Florida community,” she said.
FGCU has long been a driver of regional impact besides being a place of learning, she said.
“Nearly half of our graduates remain right here in Southwest Florida, contributing more than $600 million annually to the regional economy,” she said.
The educational programs moving from the current Marieb Hall to the new complex are in the clinical fields of nursing, physician assistant, counseling and social work, health sciences, and public health.
The student health services and counseling center for FGCU’s student body of 16,000 will be housed in the complex.
Dr. Larry Antonucci, chairman of the FGCU board of trustees, and CEO of Lee Health, the region’s largest hospital system, said the groundbreaking is far more than just the start of a construction project.
“It marks a milestone moment for Southwest Florida, one that reflects foresight, collaboration, and a deep commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our community,” Antonucci said.
The new academic building will build on FGCU’s success in health sciences, education, research and clinical engagement, he said.
“It will feature specialized teaching environments, advanced research spaces, technology rich laboratories and health care simulation suites designed to prepare students for real world clinical experiences,” he said.
He said the building is a “proactive strategic response” to the needs of the rapidly growing area, particularly for the aging population.
FGCU graduates “are job ready, highly skilled and deeply committed” to serving the region’s health care organizations and that translates into better care for patients and families across the region, he said.
How much in technology?
What’s currently cutting edge in health-care technology and what’s coming will play a big role in the new academic building, Joseph Buhain, director of interprofessional simulation and emergency technology, said.
“I stopped at $100 million,” he said when asked for a price tag for what’s planned in the new building. He could not say how much of that has been raised to date.
“The design for (this building) was to revolutionize how medicine is being taught today, Buhain said. “We wanted to create something not like any other simulation center.”
Buhain said he looked at how other simulation centers are set up yet critical is a design that serves students far into the future for holographic imaging, teleportation, conversational artificial intelligence and more.
“So we’re trying to create the technology that’s needed now, that’s actually supposed to be developed 10 years from now, that’s what we are trying to do,” he said. “We’re working with companies, with institutions, with programs, to design these things because we believe medicine is going to change.”
Some simulators were on display at the groundbreaking, with students like Gabriela Rodriguez, studying to become a physician assistant, sharing how human simulators have become more human like in recent years.
A simulator not on display that FGCU has had for about one year simulates a birth, she said.
“The birthing one is probably the most high tech that we have, and that completely shows you the stages of birthing, as a child is coming out completely, seeing the crowning of the child,” she said. “So you are coaching this mother through her (birthing) stages.”
Rodriguez, who is 25, plans to stay in the region after graduating, and wants to work at Golisano Children’s Hospital, where she did her first of 12 rotations in pediatrics at the children’s hospital.
Addressing workforce needs in the region
Health care leaders from Naples Comprehensive Health, a hospital system in Collier County, were among those attending the groundbreaking.
The university is a major pipeline for clinicians across disciplines for NCH, said Chris Raphael, vice president of critical care, patient flow and ancillary services at NCH.
The partnership between NCH and FGCU has been fantastic in helping address the growth in health care in the region, he said.
Raphael is an adjunct clinical faculty member and an FGCU graduate who has witnessed the campus grow from its early years to now.
“We have over 600 students that come through NCH annually,” he said, pointing out that figure encompasses all schools in the region and some from outside of the area.
Kevin Anderson, mayor of Fort Myers, said what’s coming with the new building is as impressive as the how the FGCU campus has evolved.
“It’s a great addition,” Anderson said. “Anytime we can keep our educational system vibrant and growing and adding the services that feed the community, that’s a great thing, and we know as our community grows, we need more medical services.”
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Liz Freeman is a health care reporter. Reach her by emailing lfreeman@naplesnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: FGCU breaks ground on new health care building to meet regional needs
Reporting by Liz Freeman, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
