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Expansion is just what the
doctor ordered
Montgomery College opens new
health sciences building
BY CASSIE M. CHEW
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"Once again, Montgomery College is
on the cutting edge"
Montgomery County’s vision to provide a state-of-the-art
facility for health care studies came true last month
when Montgomery College president Charlene R. Nunley
joined U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), U.S. Representative
Chris Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8), and a host of college
officials and legislators in a ribbon-cutting ceremony
that officially opened the school’s new health
sciences center for spring semester classes.
"This place is a dream come true–a dream
that began nearly 10 years ago," Nunley said to
an audience of legislators, school officials, and community
activists, before they headed outside to unwind and
snip a roll of medical gauze across the entrance of
the 98,000-square-foot building. The facility houses
the school’s six credit health care programs and
non-credit health sciences courses, and is the site
the Holy Cross Hospital Health Center primary health
care clinic.
Ten years ago, a group of state, county, and local
legislators who toured the Takoma Park campus were shocked
at the crowded conditions on the campus, State Senator
Ida G. Ruben (D-Dist. 20) said at the dedication. Legislators
and community activists began plans to raise support
to expand the 53-year-old "landlocked" campus.
"Once again, Montgomery College is on the cutting
edge," Sarbanes said. "They have always been
sensitive to the needs of the community."
The expansion is the largest capital investment since
the college expanded to Germantown in the 1970s, Sarbanes
added.
"It is a great win for students, a great win for
hospitals in the region, and a great win for the community,"
said Van Hollen.
"The Holy Cross Hospital Health Center is going
to bring access to health care to people who probably
haven’t had access," said Doug Duncan, Montgomery
County Executive.
The move also opens the door for reallocation of classroom
space on the old campus that, officials said, could
double enrollment on the Takoma Park campus.
"When this expansion is complete, we will be able
to serve over 7,000 students," said Gene W. Counihan,
chair of the Montgomery College Board of Trustees.
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Photo: Julie Wiatt
A ceremonial gauze cutting marks
the grand opening of Montgomery College's new Health
Sciences Center in South Silver Spring. From left: U.S.
Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Montgomery College Board
Chair Gene Counihan, U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, State
Senator Ida Ruben, Montgomery College President Dr.
Charlene Nunley, Montgomery County Executive Douglas
Duncan.
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New-building smell. This
is what welcomes students, faculty, and staff upon entering
Montgomery College’s brand-new health sciences center
on Georgia Avenue, located just across the railroad tracks
from the original campus. For the first time in 25 years,
a building on the 53 year-old Takoma Park campus, the oldest
of the three-campus community college, has this aroma.
The facility houses under one roof all the classrooms and
laboratories for the college’s six-credit health care
concentrations and non-credit courses, and is a much-needed
addition to the campus, school officials said.
"We literally have had programs sharing space,"
said Montgomery College Vice President and Provost Clarence
A. Porter. "We had to move equipment around. When we
started our physical therapy assistant program, we started
it in a converted dance studio."
But now students will study nursing, x-ray technology, diagnostic
medical sonography, surgical technology, health information
technology, and physical therapy in a 98,000 square-foot,
$14 million-dollar facility.
"With so much demand for nurses and other health care
specialists, we have long sought to grow these academic programs,
and provide our students with the opportunity to be educated
in world-class facilities. Finally, we are celebrating the
realization of that dream," said Montgomery College President
Charlene R. Nunley.
The college enrolls approximately 250 students each year
in its credit programs. It also offers non-credit workforce
development and adult education health sciences courses in
specialties including diagnostic imaging, gerontology, medical
billing, wellness, CPR, and first aid.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health services
(including home healthcare services, hospitals, and offices
of health practitioners) will create 2.8 million new jobs
by 2010, as an aging population and longer life expectancies
increase the demand for health care professionals.
The new high-tech classrooms and laboratories will enhance
education by exposing students to medical technologies they
are sure to encounter in the workplace–right down to
the operation of hospital beds.
"Students will be much better prepared to operate state-of-the-art
equipment," Montgomery College Dean of Health Sciences
Angie Pickwick said. "With knowledge of cutting-edge
technology, [our graduates] will be able to hit the ground
and run."
This is good news for Jean Davis of Rockville, who plans
to enroll this fall in the diagnostic medical sonography program,
which trains health professionals to practice abdominal and
prenatal care.
"This seems like a good time to get in the medical field,
and I’m not doing anything that I really like,"
said Davis, on her way to attend an information session about
the program.
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Photo: Julie Wiatt
View
of the new Health Sciences Center from Jesup Blair Park.
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Montgomery College’s programs also train students for
hospital administration and business fields, including the
growing field of health information technology. The health
care industry generally has been slow to computerize, but
with the recent passage of new medical privacy legislation
and a push for electronic medical records to help reduce medical
errors, more health care institutions are implementing technology
in their information handling and record-keeping procedures.
Montgomery College’s health information technology program
trains students in medical terminology and the use specialized
software programs for identifying patient services, which
can be used in a variety of work settings toward development
and maintenance of electronic medical records, billing, and
reimbursement systems.
The new facility will expand the school’s partnership
with Holy Cross Hospital, housing the Holy Cross Hospital
Health Center. The health center will provide primary care
to uninsured adults on a sliding-scale, fee-for-service basis,
said Marlene Printz, manager of the health center and director
of outpatient services at Holy Cross Hospital.
The health center also will provide Montgomery College students
the opportunity for hands-on training, school officials said.
The college facility also will be the site of the new Workforce
Development and Continuing Education Center and the Giant
Food Center for Business and Training.
The health sciences center is the first of a $92 million,
three-building expansion for the campus. In late 2004, the
college plans to break ground on the new Student Service Building,
which will include admissions, registration, counseling, and
payment offices in one building. In the third phase of the
expansion the college will build a cultural arts center, which
will include a 500-seat auditorium, a theater, and an art
gallery.
The plan to expand the campus started 10 years ago. With
enrollment growing and the need for more than its original
13 acres, the campus, which is nestled on the edge of residential
Takoma Park, could not expand east or south. The college elected
to expand west and north across the rail tracks and into the
southern edge of Silver Spring. A footbridge over the railroad
tracks to connect the campus buildings is currently under
construction, and expected to be completed this summer.
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