Holston Medical Group still supports King's proposed medical schoolhttp://www2.tricities.com/news/2011/jan/22/holston-medical-group-still-supports-kings-propose-ar-790826/By DAVID MCGEE
Published: January 22, 2011
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When it was first unveiled, the proposal included facilities near both of Wellmont’s tertiary care hospitals – Bristol Regional Medical Center and Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport. The current vision would place the medical school somewhere in Southwest Virginia, after that state’s tobacco commission
appropriated $25 million toward its construction in late 2009. That funding requires a $25 million match.
In December, officials in Washington County, Va., and the town of Abingdon offered a combined $15 million and land in the Stone Mill Business and Technology Park to try and attract the medical school to a site near Interstate 81’s Exit 14 .
“We are pleased with the continued development of the proposed King School of Medicine and Health Sciences Center,” Jordan said. “In recent months, significant progress has been made regarding the location of the proposed school. The town of Abingdon and Washington County’s immediate recognition of the project’s potential transformational contributions to the healthcare and economic well-being of our region has been most encouraging. We are currently finalizing details related to the land donation at Stone Mill Park and look forward to a strengthened partnership with these municipalities.”
King also has inquired about the availability of the current Johnston Memorial Hospital, which is scheduled to be replaced this year with a new facility overlooking Interstate 81. Johnston Memorial is affiliated with Mountain States Health Alliance, a Wellmont competitor that has, heretofore, not supported the medical school project because of its affiliation with the Quillen School of Medicine at East Tennessee State University.
The hospital’s board is expected to make its decision about the building’s future later this month or by early February.
“We would gladly accept a gift of the Johnston Memorial Foundation should it be gifted to the project. It would make an excellent facility for allopathic medical education. However, the Foundation Board has delayed the decision from the originally discussed October timeline to sometime in January or February, so we are moving forward with a plan at Stone Mill that will allow us to include the Johnston Memorial Hospital, or not, depending on the board's decision,” Jordan wrote in a subsequent email.
The region already has medical schools in Johnson City; Pikeville, Ky.; Harrogate, Tenn.; and Blacksburg, Va., but HMG’s Fowler said a new center would provide a culture in line with his group’s goals of more preventative care.
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