Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation Gives $100,000 for UAMS Northwest Campus; Encourages Local Support

By todd

|

LITTLE ROCK – The Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation has given $100,000 to the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (UAMS) to help fund development of its new northwest Arkansas satellite campus and encourage additional local support.


 


“Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation’s mission is encouraging, enabling and enhancing all philanthropy in Northwest Arkansas to improve every aspect of our quality of life in this region. The UAMS- Northwest Campus will have one of the largest impacts on quality of life Northwest Arkansas has yet seen. We see this as a huge opportunity and with this donation lead the charge to raise the private funding necessary for this wonderful opportunity to become a reality,” said Jack Butt, NWACF Board chairman.


 


The satellite campus located in Fayetteville will open for the fall 2009 semester and is intended to address growing health care work force shortages by allowing UAMS to further increase its enrollment. The campus will include the UAMS colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health Related Professions.


 


Peter O. Kohler, M.D., vice chancellor for the Northwest Arkansas Region, is leading the northwest campus effort, working with community leaders, hospital administrators and local health care providers.


 


“We are thankful for this generous gift and gratified to have the support of the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation,” Kohler said. “This new campus will benefit Northwest Arkansas and the entire state as UAMS trains more physicians and other health care workers to meet the needs of patients.”


 


“Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation’s grant committee is proud to commit this significant donation to the UAMS Northwest Campus. We understand that far more funding is needed to ensure the campus thrives, and we encourage the community to give generously to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” stated Fadil Bayyari, NWACF grants committee chairman.


 


The new campus, at the site of the former Washington Regional Medical Center, will provide facilities for students, resident physicians, faculty and patients. Kohler said the UAMS satellite campus will have between 250 and 300 students, including students in medical, pharmacy, nursing and allied health programs – along with resident physicians – when full enrollment is reached.


 


UAMS announced plans in 2006 to establish a satellite campus because its Little Rock campus and UAMS programs around the state are not able to accommodate enough new students, Kohler said.  


 


Northwest Arkansas was identified as a prime location because it is the fastest growing region of the state and has enough potential clinical partners – including hospitals, clinics and pharmacies – where students can get experience developing their skills with the latest medical technology or treating real patients in supervised settings.


 


An already rising demand for health care, along with the retirement of the baby boomer generation – the oldest of whom turned 60 last year – could overburden a health care system already experiencing shortages.


 


In 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended a 30 percent increase in enrollment at the country’s medical schools by 2015. UAMS has planned for a 20.4 percent increase in medical school enrollment from 2005 to 2010.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,538 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,600 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.


 


Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation (NWACF) was founded in 1999 and provides flexible, cost-effective, and tax-efficient ways for donors to invest in philanthropic activity strategically. NWACF helps donors fulfill their charitable goals by providing information on important local charitable issues and by matching these donors with the nonprofit organizations that best address their interests. In addition, NWACF provides community leadership to help support the social sector and provides training to allow nonprofits to thrive and build their endowments. For more information about strategic philanthropy, visit nwacf.org or call 479-361-4624.