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A proposed medical school was awarded a $35 million economic development grant from the state – the largest of its kind for the city and the Rendell administration.
The announcement was made Monday by state Sen. Bob Mellow, D-Peckville, along with Gov. Ed Rendell’s chief of staff, John Estey, at a press conference at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center.
“Today we’re going to take a very giant step in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Robert W. Naismith, president of the Medical Education Development Consortium’s board of directors. “No longer will Northeastern Pennsylvania be left behind.”
The school will be built at the site of the former Howard Johnson motel on Mulberry Street and Franklin Avenue in the downtown.
An economic study released in July says the medical school, the first to be established in the state since the Hershey Medical Center was founded in 1962, will have a regional impact of $46 million a year and, by 2015, will create 750 regional jobs that pay an average annual salary of $68,000.
The feasibility study analyzed data from dozens of sources, including insurance statistics from Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and state Medicare numbers.
Two notable findings show that Northeastern Pennsylvania has fewer physicians per capita than the national average and that residents of this region spend more than $41 million annually on health care that is provided outside Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.
“We have a shortage of physicians,” said Mellow, the only elected official on the medical school’s board of directors. “This is something that has to be done, not only for the city of Scranton and the region, but for all of Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Local colleges and universities will feed students into the medical program, but the new school will remain independent without a direct affiliation to a particular higher-education program.
The med-school consortium recently began its search for the facility’s first dean. The school is scheduled to host its inaugural class in the fall of 2009.
A Connecticut firm was hired to assist the consortium in raising an additional $50 million from private and federal sources to add to the money provided by the state grant. The process to receive a litany of accreditations from the American Medical Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges and other organizations is also under way.
Meanwhile, test drilling and geographical work continue on the site of the future school. Members of the board of directors met with architects Monday morning.
The proposed site is across from the former Holiday Manor nursing home that is owned by the city of Scranton. The home was closed in November 2002 by an order from the federal bankruptcy court. The building was demolished earlier this month.
Consortium spokesman William Schoen said the group is considering the purchase of the former nursing home property.
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Kris Wernowsky, a Times Leader staff writer |
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