A number of Orange County colleges and universities have invested in new health science campuses and programs to tap into trends that include an aging population and changes in the healthcare industry.
Chapman University in Orange has put the most money toward the trend, with $75.9 million committed to three buildings that make up its new health sciences campus slated to open in the Irvine Spectrum this month.
Other OC schools making similar moves include:
• Concordia University in Irvine, which recently said it aims to double its science and nursing square footage. The school last month added temporary space for nursing students at the office portion of the Park Place mixed-use complex in Irvine.
• Brandman University in Irvine—which is part of the Chapman University System—has boosted its work with local companies on nondegree programs in healthcare leadership, among other recent additions.
• Stanbridge University in Irvine spent $1 million for new equipment for its medical programs, added two degrees earlier this year and will launch a third in October.
The new dean of Chapman’s Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences said the school considered “national numbers and what seemed to be lacking in Orange County” in planning the establishment of the new campus in the Spectrum.
“This was very carefully thought out, with multiple factors going into the decision,” said Janeen Hill.
More Data
A 2012 Georgetown University study from its Center on Education and the Workforce said healthcare will create 5.6 million jobs in the U.S. by 2020 and that most will require special education or training.
New York-based Conference Board Inc. recently released a study on occupations expected to see shortages of trained workers. At the top of the list: occupational therapy and physical therapy assistants.
Several other OC schools are bolstering their programs to varying degrees, including:
• Vanguard University, which graduated the first class of its master of science in nursing program this spring.
The Costa Mesa-based school also raised $6.4 million to renovate its campus to include nursing classrooms, a project that’s expected to be completed next year.
• Marshall B. Ketchum University in Fullerton named the first dean of its College of Health Sciences and the first director of its new School of Physician Assistant Studies. The inaugural class of 28 students started Aug. 15.
• American Career College in Irvine added a Physical Therapy Assistant program in April and an associate of occupational science in health information technology in January. It recently bought a company that presents continuing education conferences nationally and online for nurses, doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and health educators.
Building Blocks
Chapman paid $20 million in 2012 for two buildings totaling 166,000 square feet in the Spectrum for its new health sciences campus. It added a third this year with 129,000 square feet for $25.5 million.
Renovations of the three buildings are budgeted at $30.4 million, the school said.
The campus will host students in the university’s new pharmacy school, new physician assistant program, and its doctorate in physical therapy.
Newport Beach real estate developer Harry Rinker and his wife, Diane, donated $15 million to Chapman University last year to help fund the efforts.
The campus bears their names and opened for its first students this month.
“We have an aging population nationally,” said Chapman’s Hill. “They’re reaching the age of increased prevalence of at least one major chronic disease.”
But she said that was one of six factors it found in deciding on the new programs, with the others being:
• increases in diabetes, heart disease and cancer;
• behavior choices that worsen those conditions;
• changes in how healthcare services are delivered;
• an aging medical workforce nearing retirement;
• what Chapman was already teaching in medicine.
“A third of the medical doctors in California are over the age of 60,” Hill said. “And Chapman is already strong in health profession education.”
She said the university has one of the longest-running, continually accredited physical therapy programs in the U.S., dating to 1928.
Hill added that clinics and patients have increasingly become technology-oriented, pointing to the growing number of medical clinics at drugstores and Walmart.
“Patients have new expectations,” she said. “They are tech-savvy and want flexibility.”
Concordia has submitted plans to the city of Irvine for 92,000 square feet of new space on its campus.
It has about 244,000 square feet now and under a previously approved campus plan can have 321,000. The new request includes another 15,000 square feet above the approved total.
The plans include doubling science, nursing and healthcare space from 20,000 square feet to 40,000, said Provost and Executive Vice President Mary Scott.
“We have a robust science and nursing program, and it has grown through the years,” Scott said. “It was overflowing into other classrooms and needs more space.”
The school said it would take about a year for the plan to move through the city’s review and permitting.
Concordia moved its nursing program to 15,000 square feet of office space at Park Place in July.
It starts its first students in a new master’s degree in nursing in October.
Scott said Concordia was in the “quiet phase” of a $100 million capital campaign for the campus plan it submitted to Irvine.
For-Profit Health
Add to Chapman’s real estate buy in the Spectrum the $21.6 million it spent in 2009 for a 115,000-square-foot building for Brandman University.
Brandman plans later this fall to add six to eight healthcare-focused modules to more than 60 nondegree leadership training and professional development seminars it offers.
“It’s healthcare professional development online, or as seminars on campus, or onsite at companies,” said Nancy Salzman, dean of Brandman’s School of Continuing Education
Modules are nonacademic but count for nursing or behavioral sciences continuing-education credit, and students can take as few as one seminar, she said.
Brandman also added a Spanish-language elective to its nursing programs.
The overall series of modules has about 1,000 students a year, and the Spanish language course for nurses has about 50 to 100 students annually, she said.
It expects about 250 to 300 students to take the new healthcare leadership modules in the first year.
Healthcare Innovation
Brandman also added a master’s program in healthcare innovation last fall, said Tyke Hanisch, interim dean of and associate professor in its nursing school.
“It’s an industry-driven program,” for mid-level managers in healthcare, she said.
She said the program covers six areas that include data, communication, innovation and technology.
Stanbridge launched a new master of science in nursing and master of science in occupational therapy this year and spent $1 million on classroom space and lab equipment, including interactive lifelike patient-simulation mannequins.
The simulation dummies have a pulse and can bleed, give birth, and go into cardiac arrest, said Stanbridge President and Chief Executive Yasith Weerasuriya.
He echoed the OC health sciences connection to an aging population, noting that the baby boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—have begun turning 65 but that the last of that generation won’t finish doing so until 2029.
“They’re actually coming in three distinct waves, or generational inflection points over a protracted time period,” he said. “The prospects for employment are strong.”
Stanbridge also plans to launch an associate of science in nursing in October. It has a diploma program in vocational nursing, so the new degree fills out a full line of nursing education, the school said.
Stanbridge has about 1,200 students. It focuses on higher-level training than many for-profit schools teaching in healthcare do.
The emphasis in many health science areas, such as physician assistants and occupational therapy, is on an increased level of training up to the doctoral level.