By Eric Althoff
VIRGINIA, Minn.鈥擥eneral contractor Kraus-Anderson Duluth and designer Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc. are finishing up work for the Rock Ridge District鈥檚 medical education program.聽 In conjunction with Orthopaedic Associates, the 7,500-square-foot expansion will allow high school students to learn alongside medical professionals in a clinical setting.
The $2 million educational facility will be home to a working medical clinic, x-ray suite, physical therapy gym as well as an orthopedic medical clinic.聽 The high school students from Rock Ridge will effectively shadow working doctors and nurses to become more familiar with the various tools and terms of the medical trade鈥攚hile gaining valuable experience that could come in handy in eventual professional settings.
District Superintendent Noel Schmidt said that the unique partnership between Rock Ridge and Orthopaedic Associates fashions a unique school-to-career pipeline for students in the school鈥檚 career and technical education (CTE) program.
鈥淭he CTE program will offer educational programming, workshops and job shadowing that will give students a chance to explore healthcare careers, of which there are plenty in the area,鈥� Schmidt said.
In a subsequent statement to 麻豆福利网, Jocy Teske, Cuningham Group Architecture鈥檚 senior certified project interior designer, said that the architect needed to focus on adequate patient and staff parking as well as 鈥渧isibility鈥� of the clinic鈥檚 entrance and access to building services shared with the school itself.
鈥淎n interior corridor allows building service support without disruption to separate entrances for clinic and physical therapy gym operations,鈥� Teske said.聽 鈥淭he central nurse station with dictation suites is surrounded by exam rooms for ease of access by patient and staff.聽 Structural support for large X-ray equipment, unique construction for building occupant safety, and mechanical enhancements for occupant comfort were required.鈥�
Morgan Seopa, Kraus-Anderson鈥檚 project manager, said that the owner worked with the designers to replicate a similar clinical setting that Orthopaedic Associates already operates in the town of Hibbing.聽 That way the educational facility would closely mirror an operational healthcare setting.
鈥�This is a short-duration project, [so getting] all the materials on site was probably the biggest鈥� issue that Kraus-Anderson faced, Seopa said in a phone interview with 麻豆福利网.聽 鈥淚t was an interior build, so we didn鈥檛 have a lot of environmental challenges or anything like that.聽 It was mostly just getting things going.鈥�
She added that students will be able to walk across a shared parking lot to the CTE building.聽 This will increase familiarity with the services on offer when it comes time for the students to move into the clinical training side.
鈥淎nd then also, if they do have an interest in that type of field for a career, they鈥檙e able to utilize that space as well,鈥� Seopa said.聽 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to fill these positions, so any positive encouragement is a great thing.鈥�
Construction work at Rock Ridge commenced in January and is due to be complete in September.