The third phase of construction on Health Services is set to begin Feb. 15, marking the halfway point of a four-phase project that began in spring 2007.
Marilyn Sanchez/Staff Photographer
According to Johann Fiore Conte, director of Health and Counseling Services, this next phase will include adding on new examining rooms and nursing stations, renovating old examination rooms and providing more storage space.
Fiore Conte said the project was funded by the Decker Foundation.
“In 2007 Health Services, in conjunction with other [University departments], wrote a grant proposal to [the] Dr. G. Clifford and Florence B. Decker Foundation,” Fiore Conte said. “The proposal was to take the first floor and redesign and renovate the current square footage, [creating] a space that is more conducive and efficient to how we provide care to students.”
The Decker Grant, worth $1.5 million, was awarded to Health Services in spring 2008. The grant provided the money to complete each phase, and also provided the finances required to install new diagnostic equipment and a whole new digital database to track student medical records.
According to Fiore Conte, one of the Health Services’ goals is for students to eventually be able to make appointments online. She explained that this would not only make it easier for the nursing staff, but for the students as well because it would allow them to check in and out by themselves through the digital database.
The first phase was completed in late October 2009. This phase improved Health Services in a number of ways, including a new room for storing medical records, a new pharmacy area, a personal lab area adjacent to the pharmacy, student resting areas and a new staff break room complete with an area for a medical library.
The second phase, which was completed this past January, created new administrative offices located in the back of the Health Services building.
According to Fiore Conte, the final phase will include the creation of a larger waiting and reception area, allowing Health Services to accommodate current students as well as future students as the school’s capacity increases. They are hoping to have the construction completed before students return in fall 2010 without closing the facility during construction.
The Health Services building, originally built in 1966, was designed for a total student University enrollment of 6,000 students, Fiore Conte said.
“We [needed] to redesign to provide quality care in a more efficient way [and] we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the Decker Foundation,” Fiore Conte said.