Alliance for Healthcare Education kicks off $15M renovation project

A multimillion-dollar renovation project is officially underway following a groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 25 at Cox North Hospital.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe was among officials in attendance at the event for The Alliance for Healthcare Education, which is beginning a $15 million major expansion of its footprint for students on the Cox North campus. Roughly 45,000 square feet is being renovated in space at Cox College, which is merging its programming into the alliance, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. 

“This expansion reminds us what can happen when we come together – when education, health care and community leaders join forces to build a stronger future,” Kehoe said.

The Alliance for Healthcare Education was formed in 2023 by CoxHealth, Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College and Springfield Public Schools. The partnership was started to create affordable pathways into health care careers and address workforce shortages. The inaugural year of programs for high school and college students began this month following a pilot year, officials say. An initial cohort of 32 Springfield high school students began in the alliance program in fall 2024, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

DeWitt & Associates Inc. is general contractor and Paragon Architecture LLC is serving as architect for the renovation project, which is creating more educational, clinical, studying and gathering spaces within Cox North. The project is being funded by $15 million the alliance received in 2024 from the state’s fiscal 2025 budget.

At the ceremony, the front row of seating was saved for students in the alliance program. They came in shortly after the event began to take their place, which Shallina Goodnight, the alliance’s executive director, said symbolized filling needed job openings in health care. She said the students aren’t just filling empty seats but critical roles.

“They’re answering the call, bridging the gap and building a better future,” Goodnight said.

Goodnight said the Cox North renovation project is estimated to wrap by summer 2026.

Building partnerships
The alliance used the groundbreaking event to add to its partnership roster, as Burrell Behavioral Health and Citizens Memorial Hospital were announced as the organization’s initial workforce affiliate partners. Evangel University in July 2024 became the first educational affiliate partner of the alliance, according to past reporting.

Goodnight said the alliance has extended an invitation to Mercy Springfield Communities to join.

Mercy spokesperson Ettie Berneking released a statement from the health care provider: “We’re fully supportive of any initiative that strengthens our local workforce pipeline. Many of our academic partners, including MSU, OTC and SPS, are part of the alliance, and we will continue to support any effort to make it easier for students to pursue careers in health care.”

Goodnight said Burrell and CMH joining forces with the alliance ensures behavioral health and rural health care are central to shaping the future workforce.

“They’re going to provide support and mentorship and then pathways of on ramping to real careers after graduation,” Goodnight said. “These organizations understand, believe and are willing to build this ride along with us.”

Goodnight said Evangel is primarily engaging with the alliance to expand degree pathways for its students. However, Burrell and CMH are partnering with the alliance to help meet workforce demands.

“They absolutely will be sending staff through that need to skill up, but really they’re looking more at exposure to help attract and potentially hire for their workforce needs,” she said in an interview on Aug. 22.

For Michael Calhoun, CEO of CMH, rural health care depends on homegrown talent. While he said the Bolivar-based health care system considered partnering with the alliance back when it formed in 2023, the conversation really picked up around the last six months to become a workforce affiliate.

Calhoun said he sees the alliance as a workforce pipeline that can lead program graduates to Bolivar.

“We have a lot of students right now that come to Springfield for their education,” he said. “I think it puts us at the table to talk about how do we make sure that we’ve got good pipelines for them to be able to work at home if that’s where they want to work. But just regionally for us, it can just develop more health care workers in general so that there’s enough to take care of people in our communities.”

Clay Goddard, president of the southwest region for Burrell Behavioral Health and its parent company, Brightli Inc., said his organization already has clinical training in place at MSU and Ozarks Tech.

“For us, this is going to be more about getting access to students at an earlier age,” he said.

The intent is to initially reach students in high school to provide them clinical experiences and understanding as to what a pathway in behavioral health can look like.

“For a lot of families, it’s still a stigmatized topic,” he said. “They may not even be talking about it and not recognizing the kinds of opportunities there are for a career path, which could be from an associate degree all the way to a PhD that you can get here in one of these organizations.”

According to a news release from Burrell, as part of its membership in the alliance, high school juniors will spend time training on-site with the organization’s employees. Burrell leaders and staff will also be invited to speak to students in their classrooms.

“When we examine the mental health care needs of our southwest Missouri community and our world, we know that we need at least 25% more behavioral health care providers than we have in order to serve the demand,” Burrell CEO Mat Gass said in the release. “That gap is projected to grow wider between now and 2036 as demands increase.”

Recognizing impact
Kealey King is connected with the alliance through two of its partners. She’s a student at Evangel but is also pursuing a nursing degree at MSU. In two years, she plans to graduate with two degrees – a bachelor’s in health care from Evangel and a bachelor’s in nursing from MSU.

“Ever since I was little, I have known that I wanted to work as a health care provider, specifically one that works with kids,” she said during the ceremony.

While noting the health care field is a large calling, King said she’s learning every day what it means to belong to something bigger than herself.

“The alliance has opened the doors and created opportunities for students like me who want to be involved with school but also want to become incredible health care providers,” she said.

Noting politicians love to talk workforce development, Kehoe said, “if this isn’t the model that people follow, I don’t know what would be.”

Kehoe said the alliance is about opportunity and creates accelerated and affordable pathways into high demand health care services. He called the alliance a “trendsetter” when it comes to this type of partnership, which gets students ready to fill needs in the health care workforce.

“This happens because you have a community that’s full of leaders who decide to say, ‘Let’s not sit around and study this anymore. Let’s actually put something into action to make it happen,’” he said. “A lot of communities would love to replicate this model, and I hope do replicate this model.”