UND and Bismarck break ground for new Center for Family Medicine

North Dakota and Bismarck dignitaries turned out on Wednesday, Nov. 10, to celebrate the symbolic breaking of ground for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ new $5.4 million, state-funded Center for Family Medicine–Bismarck. The three-story facility is a cooperative effort between Medcenter One, St. Alexius Medical Center and UND. The building is set to go up on the corner of Seventh Street and Rosser.

Joining North Dakota University System Chancellor Bill Goetz and UND President Robert O. Kelley at the groundbreaking were State Representative RaeAnn Kelsch; Joshua Wynne, UND vice president for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences; Bismarck Mayor John Warford; Tim Moore from Senator Kent Conrad’s Bismarck office; Craig Lambrecht, president and chief executive officer of Medcenter One; Andrew Wilson, president and chief executive officer of St. Alexius Medical Center; Nicholas Neumann, dean of the Southwest Campus, and Robert Beattie, chair of the SMHS’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.

“This morning we celebrate the very effective partnership we have here in Bismarck,” said President Kelley in opening the ceremony.

“This Center will make a genuine difference in the lives of so many North Dakotans,” said Senator Kent Conrad in a letter read by Tim Moore from Conrad’s Bismarck office. “I have no doubt that North Dakota is a better place to live thanks to all of your contributions.”

In 2009, the North Dakota Legislature appropriated the funds to the School of Medicine and Health Sciences to construct a new facility for its Bismarck Center for Family Medicine and Southwest Campus offices. “We in the Legislature really like to see businesses and non-profits and profits that want to partner and make North Dakota better,” said State Representative RaeAnn Kelsch. “And that really is what has happened in this situation. As a legislator, and on behalf of my colleagues, this is the type of progress we like to see being made.”

Bismarck Mayor John Warford cited the creation of jobs by the medical sector in Bismarck and the number of physicians who are trained at the Center who actually stay in Bismarck, which “adds to the quality of life in our community,” he said. “They [UND SMHS] have a mission, and they are delivering on their mission.”

The SMHS sought and received advice on the building’s location from the community, the City of Bismarck, Medcenter One and St. Alexius Medical Center. Open to the public, the Center will be adjacent to both hospitals, making it ideal for faculty, staff, residents (medical school graduates), medical students and, most importantly—patients. The new location offers improved parking and easier access for clinic patients. It also features 20 exam rooms, four procedure rooms, X-ray and laboratory space, and business and administrative offices. For patients’ convenience, the facility will also include a pharmacy.

North Dakota University System Chancellor Bill Goetz said “This groundbreaking is really a groundbreaking for the future vision of rural health care in the state of North Dakota.”

Dean Wynne praised the contribution of the community of Bismarck and the Legislature in making the Center a reality. “The new Center is important to Bismarck, the patients of Bismarck, and our educational and training programs,” said Wynne.

The Center for Family Medicine will serve as a clinic where medical residents, in a three-year residency program, are educated and trained under the supervision of excellent, experienced, board-certified family doctors, a pediatrician, and staff. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are eligible for board-certification in family medicine. Residency training in family medicine has been provided in Bismarck by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences for about 34 years. Family medicine training is also offered by the School in Minot. The new building will provide office and clinic space for approximately six faculty, 28 staff and 15 physicians-in-training, who will move from the Center’s current location at 515 East Broadway Ave. The Center for Family Medicine has graduated 143 doctors since its start in 1976; of those doctors, 76 still practice in North Dakota.

“For North Dakota health care to remain among the best in the nation, we need to keep educating and training high-quality doctors right here at home,” said Craig Lambrecht, president and CEO of Medcenter One. “That’s why we at Medcenter One are so excited to have this building going up on our land and to be a partner in this project.”

“One of the attributes of the program between both medical facilities is that it is a community-based program,” said Andrew Wilson, president and chief executive officer of St. Alexius Medical Center. “Our community physicians participate in the teaching of the residents.”

Randy Eken, associate dean for administration and finance at the SMHS, is chair of the building committee. Ritterbush-Ellig-Hulsing of Bismarck is the architect and planner for the construction project. All clinic functions will be on the first floor of the approximately 45,000-square-foot facility; support functions, including office space for the residency program as well as the Southwest campus, will be on the second floor. Medcenter One will build and occupy the third floor. The SMHS hopes to complete and occupy the building by late fall of 2011.

— Denis MacLeod, assistant director, Office of Alumni and Community Relations, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 777-2733, denis.macleod@med.und.edu.