The University of West Alabama will be the temporary home of the Alabama School of Healthcare Science until the Demopolis campus is completed in 2027.
That’s the latest from Alabama School of Healthcare Science Foundation President Rob Pearson, who made a presentation to the Alabama House Ways and Means Committee on April 9. He presented some preliminary renderings of the building, but he said they won’t be released to the public for a while.
The Foundation looked for a temporary home, including the closed Judson College in Marion. But in the end, the Foundation decided to “stick to the original plan” and operate out of UWA in Livingston until the permanent facility opens in Demopolis.
“They’ve been super gracious to us,” Pearson said of UWA. “(Using facilities at UWA) gives us the opportunity to open a year sooner than we would if we had to wait on construction.”
Pearson said they are “still in the design phase,” and construction should start later this summer. The site, directly behind Whitfield Regional Hospital, has already been cleared and was deeded to the Foundation by the city of Demopolis.
Pearson said that for the first year, students attending the ASHS will live on campus at UWA. But he added that “there will be more (information) on that. We have some really exciting plans.” He said there will be 100 high school freshmen in the first class, and that the Foundation and UWA officials have been “working hard to make it happen.”
“We’re not ready to announce everything we have in store,” Pearson said. “We have gone a pretty good ways down the road with the folks at West Alabama. They have been more than accommodating.”
Along with the building, the Foundation is working on other aspects of the ASHS. Dr. Jimmy Martin will be the president and will start on May 1. Curriculum development and career pathway development are underway, according to Pearson.
“We’ve got a lot of people all around the state who are working with us to design a very innovative curriculum that the entire state will be proud of,” Pearson said.
Pearson said that by the end of May, the Foundation plans to have “a full grasp on exactly what the student experience will look like, from freshman year all the way to senior year.” That will show students and parents “what the students will graduate with so students and parents and educators will see why this school will be so special,” Pearson said.
ASHS will help alleviate “the very serious crisis we have across America of staffing of rural workforce in rural healthcare,” Pearson said.
Pearson said the school will put the region in the spotlight around the state and around “the entire nation.”
“We have one shot to do it right, and that’s out intention,” Pearson said. “To do it right.”
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