Proposed medical school gets $25 million grant

WYTHEVILLE – The proposed King College medical school gained considerable traction Thursday, receiving a $25 million grant that assures it would be built in Virginia.

The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, which met here Thursday, approved the grant as part of more than $30 million in appropriations for projects in Southwest Virginia.

Also among the grants is $3.5 million for Bristol Virginia Utilities’ OptiNet service to expand eastward; and the Bristol, Va.-based Birthplace of Country Music Alliance received a $250,000 grant for capital improvement projects to address drainage issues at its proposed cultural heritage center downtown.

King College, a private, Bristol, Tenn.-based school, announced its desire to start a medical school less than a year ago.

“This provides the lead investment in this project that will serve Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia,“ college President Greg Jordan said minutes after the grant was approved. “It’s an enormous contribution.“

The grant is among the largest lump sums ever awarded by the commission and includes a number of stipulations. The money must be equally matched by other sources and the state is guaranteed to get its investment back should the building ever stop being used for medical education.

The school of medicine and health science center is expected to be built “in close proximity” to Bristol Regional Medical Center, Jordan said, declining to discuss a specific location.

Wellmont Health System, which operates the medical center and other area hospitals, announced last year it would serve as a clinical partner on the project.

“This is a substantial sum of money,“ commission Executive Director Neal Noyes told the commission’s Southwest Virginia Economic Development committee. “But they [King] are going to have to raise a substantial amount – $25 million and about $50 million to operate, so that’s leveraging $3 for each of our dollars. This is a game-changer.“

A King-funded consultant’s study shows the school would create about 500 jobs and have a $74 million annual economic impact within a few years. Both totals are forecast to grow substantially over the next 20 years.

Expanding the medical school’s service area to the expansive Southside portion of Virginia, which is also served by the commission, played a key role in the approval process.

“We’re asking them to reach out to Southside Virginia by sending students out there to their clinicals and to hold a seat or two for qualified Southside individuals to come to the medical school,“ state Delegate Terry Kilgore said.

Kilgore, R-Gate City and the commission’s vice-chairman, said that region has many of the same health care needs as Southwest Virginia.

“They have the same shortages of physicians and health care needs as we do,“ Kilgore said.

Jordan said he looks forward to working with the extended region.

“It is perfectly consistent with the original vision. That was to serve a broader, five-state region. Southside has an equal number of opportunities as does Southwest Virginia to grow health care and develop resources that provide greater access,“ Jordan said. “They need primary care physicians as much as any other region. That’s a national issue and we believe this project will address that challenge.“

Kilgore said the ball is now in King’s court.

“This [$25 million] is in line with the investments we’ve made with broadband. We’re very hopeful, in looking at the studies, at what a medical school can do for a region. We feel our investment is going to bring about a big return,“ Kilgore said.

The commission typically expects projects to begin within a year, Kilgore said, but he expects no problems because the medical school is forecast to open in fall 2012.

“The next step is to identify the resources for the balance of the project, to marshal those resources and commence the project,“ Jordan said, declining to discuss a specific schedule. “We’ll begin when the necessary resources have been garnered.“

In addition to the medical school, BVU received its $3.5 million appropriation to extend its fiber-optic system and link to a provider serving Southside Virginia.

The work includes 49 miles of new fiber-optic cable along Interstate 81 and state Route 16 – linking with Citizens Telephone system near the Grayson County line.

“This is a very important tool for economic development, being able to offer this redundant line,“ BVU President and CEO Wes Rosenbalm said.

Commission member and state Delegate Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, said the BVU allocation should do “great things” for economic development in Southwest Virginia.

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