More exciting news for the area. Harrisburg is getting more and more attractive with each new project!!!
HACC breaks ground for $12 million health center
Friday, June 04, 2004
BY DAVID WENNER
Of The Patriot-News
Harrisburg Area Community College broke ground yesterday for a health education center that will feature improved facilities for training nurses.
The college expects to begin using the $12 million Select Medical Health Education Pavilion in the fall of 2005. Select Medical Corp., based in Lower Allen Twp., donated $1.2 million to help build the center.
Officials said the center will enable HACC to accept more nursing students and should help ease the shortage of registered nurses in hospitals and nursing homes.
HACC accepts 160 students annually for its two-year associate degree program for training registered nurses. Enrollment will eventually rise to 180, said Ron Rebuck, director of nursing programs.
The new, two-story building will be attached to Blocker Hall at HACC's Wildwood campus in Harrisburg. It will feature a 20-bed nursing laboratory and classrooms equipped with state-of-art equipment. The existing nursing lab has seven beds.
The HACC nursing program outgrew its space at Wildwood, and nursing students since January have studied off campus in leased space at Penn Center in Harrisburg.
The new facility also will house HACC's other health-career programs, including respiratory therapy and dental assistant and dental hygienist. The dental hygiene clinic, which has 12 chairs, will expand to 20 chairs.
The college is conducting a capital campaign it hopes will raise $7 million for the facility. Former Gov. George Leader and his wife contributed $500,000 to the nursing portion of the center.
Although HACC plans to expand its nursing program after the center opens, space hasn't been a primary concern, Rebuck said. He said enrollment has been limited by fewer opportunities for nurses to obtain clinical training at local hospitals.