After eight years of advocacy by Mercy, CoxHealth, Missouri State University, the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, stakeholders this morning applauded their now-funded plans for a medical school and occupational therapy program in Springfield.
While the Springfield clinical campus isn’t expected to be fully operational until June 2016, MSU President Clif Smart said at a news conference held at the Springfield chamber this morning the university would launch its master of science in occupational therapy program with 24 new students this fall.
In all, $11.3 million is coming to the Queen City via the University of Missouri School of Medicine educational expansion and MSU’s occupational therapy program, which will train 48 occupational therapists annually. Funding for the Springfield clinical campus and occupational therapy program was supported in February by a $21.5 million
settlement with Standard and Poor’s Financial Services LLC, but it was unknown at the time how much would go toward Springfield.
CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards said the need is great.
“Within a 50-mile radius, there are over 4,000 openings in health care,” Edwards said during the news conference. “The medical school itself is a dream for so many of us.
“We are one of the largest communities in the country without a medical school.”
The project is estimated to provide over 300 additional physicians for Missouri, add more than $390 million annually to the state’s economy and create 3,500 new jobs, according to information released by the chamber. Springfield chamber spokeswoman Maggie Kost said while there will be a need for MSU to devote some administrative space for the medical school, MU and MSU medical students would largely be trained through the collaborative program on the campuses of Mercy and CoxHealth.
Mercy Springfield Communities Chief Operating Officer Jay Guffey said local training funds approved as part of the state’s $26 billion fiscal 2016 budget hopefully would help produce a regular source of professional talent for both Mercy and Cox.
“We’re hoping some of the doctors who are trained here will stay here in the Ozarks and serve our communities,” he said. “We also hope that the availability of this campus will encourage students from southwest Missouri to take a closer look at all the jobs in the health care field knowing they can get training close to home through this program.”
Springfield chamber President and CEO Matt Morrow said today’s announcement is the result of years of work done behind the scenes by collaborators who came together for a common goal: to alleviate a shortage of health care workers statewide.
“This day has been a long time coming,” Morrow said. “We’ve seen the effect that these training programs can have on communities across the country. Specifically, in 2009, on our community-leadership visit to Grand Rapids, Mich., we saw exactly how this kind of partnership can have a transformative effect.
“The presence of a medical school can have a significant impact on a community, and now Springfield is proud to say that not only are we home to the state’s second-largest higher-education institution, but we are proud to call a leading medical school home as well.”[[In-content Ad]]
