May 25, 2001

$3 million Landsbaum gift makes med center a reality

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A $3 million gift from the estate of local real estate developer Morris Landsbaum has made the construction of a regional center for health education a reality.

The $6.7 million Landsbaum Center for Health Education is a cooperative partnership involving Union Hospital’s Midwest Center for Rural Health, the Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana State University’s School of Nursing. The project was approved May 25 by the Indiana State University Board of Trustees. The boards of Indiana University and Union Hospital have already approved this agreement, which will now go to the state for final review.

The building will be constructed adjacent to Union Hospital’s Family Practice Center, at the intersection of 6 1/2 Street and Seventh Avenue. The two-story, 34,000-square-foot facility will include the latest technology and be outfitted with a 150-seat lecture hall, classrooms, patient exam rooms, study areas and offices.

This facility is the culmination of years of discussions among the various entities and a shared vision to provide educational programming for nurses, residents and medical students.

“This project is a collaborative effort on two fronts,” said ISU President Lloyd W. Benjamin III. “It brings these institutions together in a partnership to provide health care education and much needed community services to the Wabash Valley and to rural residents across Indiana. Academically, it provides an opportunity for our students — future family nurse practitioners, nurses and physicians — to work side by side during their training in preparation for their roles in the professional workplace.”

In fact, this is not the first time that these three entities have partnered to successfully implement a project. It was more than 30 years ago that the Terre Haute Center for Medical Education opened its doors on the campus of Indiana State. Through the Center, ISU, IU and Union Hospital have joined forces to bring the first and second years of medical education to Terre Haute.

Although the new facility will be a tremendous asset to students, faculty and staff, it also will provide great benefits to Terre Haute and surrounding communities.

Educational programs and outreach services that already exist independently in other locations will be brought together under one roof. Such programs include ISU’s continuing education programs in nursing, the Terre Haute Center for Medical Education’s Mini-Medical School Program (public lecture series on current medical trends), medical seminars for physicians, free immunization clinics and low-cost child and adult health clinics, to name a few.

Indianapolis-based BSA Design, the architectural firm on the project, has completed schematic design and design development drawings for the facility. Construction drawings are expected later this summer, with the bidding process to follow in the fall. Construction may begin as early as late fall or early in 2002. The facility is expected to open its doors sometime in 2003.  

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Contact and Writer:
Maria Greninger, associate director, Public Affairs,
(812) 237-4357 or m-greninger@indstate.edu

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu