$8M Gift to Help NKU Build New Health Innovation Center

Saint Elizabeth Healthcare is lending a helping hand to Northern Kentucky University to build its new Health Innovation Center.

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Health Innovation Center

Health Innovation Center

Northern Kentucky University has received a helping hand for the construction of its new Health Innovation Center. This week, NKU President Geoffrey Mearns and Saint Elizabeth Healthcare CEO Garren Colvin announced that Saint Elizabeth Healthcare has donated $8 million to support the project.

NKU’s Health Innovation Center is scheduled to break ground this fall and expected to open in 2018. The project, which will be developed with the help of $97 million in state funding, calls for both the construction of a new facility and the renovation of Founders Hall, NKU’s second-oldest academic building.

Saint Elizabeth Healthcare’s donation is the first to the Health Innovation Center and the second-largest gift in the university’s 48-year history. The money will be used for the design and construction of the new center’s simulation facilities, which will be named the Saint Elizabeth Healthcare Simulation Center and will consist of a two-story comprehensive virtual care environment. This high-tech facility will feature simulation space, clinical skills suites, nursing skills suites, imaging suites, and classrooms, and will provide students with training across a host of care disciplines.

“This generous investment will benefit our students, faculty, and the community for years to come,” Geoffrey Mearns said in a statement. “Today we celebrate our partnership with St. Elizabeth Healthcare and this new step we take together to lead with excellence and leave a lasting impact upon healthcare in our region, the Commonwealth, and the nation.”

“The ongoing education and training for our staff and clinicians is of utmost importance to us,” Garren Colvin added.  “From our partnership with the Mayo Clinic to this investment in the Health Innovation Center at NKU, we are dedicated to providing best-in-class healthcare to our region.  I believe this Center will be a model to be emulated across the country.”

Photo credit: NKU

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