SLCC facility should ease health-care shortages

In what once was an empty field next to Bangerter Highway, a new facility that promises to help Salt Lake Community College turn out record numbers of health-care workers is near completion.

The college's Health Sciences Center, which will provide classrooms for nearly 1,200 students in seven health-care-related disciplines this fall, is important because of Utah's growing health-care needs, said Marlene Bacon, the college's dean of health sciences.

"Utah seems to be a bottomless pit of demand for nurses and really for all health-related fields," she said. "Our nursing shortage, however, is impacting how hospitals can expand."

The college has committed to accept and train more health-care professionals in the coming years, and the $31 million facility on the 9000 South and 3400 West campus will centralize the institution's efforts and give students a better feel of how the health-care system works as a whole. State-of-the-art lab equipment, access to all disciplines and room to grow will provide students who are trying to get a feel for what working in a hospital is like, with an experience that is "as close as it gets," Bacon said.

"Nobody does anything alone in a hospital," she said. "Our system is set to model that interaction by creating interdisciplinary teamwork."

With already overflowing emergency rooms in the valley and the announcements of multiple hospitals slated to open this year and next, Bacon said, producing more graduates to fuel the workforce is imperative. Local industry leaders have provided money and pledged partnerships with the college, and although a financial commitment to the building has been met, at least $4 million is still needed to break-even.

Intermountain Healthcare has signed on to help SLCC's cause by providing the largest-ever cash donation to the facility, thus forming a partnership with the college that will help place students while they train and later when they graduate. Intermountain's new hospitals will need an additional 150 nurses to function as scheduled.

Meanwhile, IASIS's network is looking to hire a similar number when more than 100 new beds open at Jordan Valley Hospital this year.

In late June, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, announced a Senate appropriation for Utah's health-education programs, including funding for SLCC's Health Sciences Center. The committee allocated $500,000 to help move students through the programs there, ensuring an increase of more than 360 graduates per year.