Medical makeover : 'Old hospital' transforms to health care hub

By Robin Mero

Posted: July 30, 2009 at 7:09 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Please don't call it the old hospital anymore.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences officials hope the public will now call the former Washington Regional Medical Center building in Fayetteville "UAMS Northwest."

The exterior of the brick, six-story building is staying the same, although a big sign will be mounted with the new name in a few months.

By January, a chunk of the inside will be transformed.

A first phase of structural renovations is costing $1.3 million, not including furnishings or equipment - all made possible by local philanthropy.

Gifts for the renovations include $1 million from the Wal-Mart Foundation; $500,000 each from Johnelle Hunt, Don Tyson and the Tyson Family Foundation, and the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation; $300,000 from the Walton Family Foundation; $500,000 from Care Foundation Inc. of Springdale; and $100,000 from Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation.

Many members of those families, and other generous donors, attended a reception Wednesday afternoon.

"We used to use the word if a lot," said Dr. Peter Kohler, vice chancellor for UAMS Northwest. "Some of you may have doubted this day would come, but we are here to celebrate results of these gifts."

Inside the building, walls have been torn down to their elements in about 40,000 square feet of the space - including the original 1946 building on the far west side and what was more recently the emergency room. Airconditioning units are going in, then walls will be rebuilt. Virtually everything will be new - lighting, flooring, fixtures, paint, cabinets, shelving. The bottom floor, where the emergency room was located, will be a library for the medical school and clinic space.

"It will look new - you won't even recognize it," said Coy Hurd, operations director for the building. "We are rewiring the building to have the capacity for future IT needs, and it will have state-of-the-art equipment."

At the building's main entrance, the south portion will be used for medical school administrative offices. The far north isU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs space, and the remainder is either vacant or being subleased. These areas are not being extensively renovated at this time, although the administrative offices will have cosmetic improvements such as new paint and carpet. That work will be bid out next week, Hurd said.

The hospital opened in August 1950 at the intersection of College Avenue and North Street. There were two expansions, in the 1960s and 1970s. The medical center moved into a new facility in 2002.

The 200,000-square-foot building is owned by Washington County. The UAMS is leasing it - for $1 per yearfor 20 years.

UAMS will use about 40,000 square feet of space for the satellite campus and for the Area Health Education Center, which is relocating from near Joyce Boulevard and Crossover Road.

The Area Health Education Center Northwest serves patients in Benton, Carroll, Boone, Washington, Madison and Newton counties. The clinic sees about 20,000 patients a year in Fayetteville, and allows students and residents to train alongside family practice doctors, Dr. Robert Gullett Jr., director, said.

There are currently 27 residents in training to be family doctors in the northwest center. There are also radiation technology residents, pharmacy students and those studying tele-medicine who perform ultrasounds for high-risk pregnancies.

All of the area's continuing education programs for nursing students also take place there.

The new satellite medical school will open in January with six third-year students, who began studies here July 7 in temporary space. Six more students will be added next year, and the goal is to eventually accommodate between 250 to 300 students in medical, pharmacy, nursing and allied health programs, along with resident physicians who will serve residencies at area hospitals and clinics.

UAMS is subleasing the rest of the space in the building, which will serve as a hub for health-related ventures.

The Veterans Affairs Medical Center is using one section for a rest home, as are Regency Hospital and Life Styles, which supports individuals with developmental disabilities - and provides help with housekeeping for the building.

The University of Arkansas is looking at using the old fitness center building for its nursing program, and North-West Arkansas Community College is looking to use a section for its programs.

The Washington Regional health care network has, throughout the years, maintained use of certain portions of the building.

News, Pages 1, 5 on 07/30/2009

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