Construction is set to begin later this month on a $95 million health education building on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Kearney have partnered on plans for the UNK-UNMC Rural Health Education Building.
University officials say the center will enable greater numbers of aspiring health care professionals to study and train in central Nebraska. Kearney is about 130 miles west of Lincoln.
The project also will enable UNMC and UNK to expand on an existing partnership established in 2015 to train students in nursing and allied health professions by adding new programs in medicine, pharmacy and public health. The expansion is intended to address a critical need for additional health care professionals in rural Nebraska.
Nicole Carritt, UNMC’s assistant vice chancellor for health workforce education relations, says that about 86% of the students who have trained at the Kearney campus in nursing and allied health professions through the existing partnership have stayed in rural areas to practice.
The three-story, 110,000-square-foot building, which will be operated by UNMC, will be equipped with some of the same state-of-the-art medical simulation, visualization and communication equipment available at UNMC’s Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning program in Omaha.
Completion is targeted for late 2025 and occupancy in early 2026. Students will be able to enroll in the newly expanded programs beginning in fall 2025, using existing UNK facilities until the new building opens.
The partner institutions opened the $19 million Health Science Education Complex on UNK’s west campus in 2015. More than 300 students are pursuing degrees there in nursing and a variety of allied health professions. The new facility will be situated directly north of the health science complex.
