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Project Information for the $32 million Medical Center

Source - PrimeCare Magazine

Designed to simultaneously streamline and strengthen the school's activities, the $32 million complex at Cabell Huntington Hospital will consolidate 20 years' growth in clinical teaching, outreach, research and service programs of the School of Medicine.

For students, the center will provide a more cohesive clinical education environment, allowing them to cross specialty lines to follow patients through all stages of care.

The complex includes an ambulatory care center and a rural health center. The six-story, 138,000 square foot ambulatory center houses the outpatient clinics and clinical education facilities. It gives every patient access to the full resources of the medical school, its providers and the hospital. The four-story, 39,000-square-foot rural health center will house the health science library, academic and
administrative support services, telemedicine conference rooms, and rural outreach and research offices.

For the medical school, it reduces the number of leases and support staff while adding the resources of Cabell Huntington. Also, the growth of managed care with its team-based approach has made the multidisciplinary nature of the new center crucial for physician training.

The new complex is long overdue. The 24-student inaugural class of 1978 has swelled to a student body of more than 200. Half are in their third or fourth years, when patient care predominates. The antiquated Doctors' Memorial Building -- a renovated hospital with sections that date back 90 years -- is no longer adequate for the medical school's increasing clinical teaching needs. Schneider says, though, it is likely the building will be kept to house certain administrative offices and possibly the health service for
Marshall University students.

In addition to the ambulatory and rural centers, the long-range plans call for a  new cancer treatment center. The late James Edwards created a trust that, after the death of his wife, Joan, will go to Cabell Huntington for the cancer center.