Hospital District commits $6M for CF health science center – Ocala

Fred Hiers @Hiersnews

The College of Central Florida now has a $6 million commitment in hand from the Marion County Hospital District, a local down payment meant to use as leverage as the college asks the Florida Legislature for another $23.7 million in matching funds to build a state-of-the-art health science center.

This is a huge decision for Marion County. This will go a long way (in convincing Florida lawmakers to approve the states share), said CF President James Henningsen after the unanimous Hospital District vote to award the money.

The district owns Munroe Regional Medical Center and Munroe's Medical Park at TimberRidge and leases those properties to Community Health Systems in exchange for $212 million and a 40-year-long lease. The district invests that money and with the proceeds doles out grants to local non-profits to fund health care related activities.

Henningsen told the district trustees that the commitment puts the college in a better position as it asks the Florida Legislature for another $23.7 million in matching funds. Henningsen said he will ask the state for $2.5 million this year and the rest over the next four or five years.

The districts commitment is good for eight years and the district releases 20 percent in matching the amount each year that the college receives from the state.

Henningsen told the district trustees during their monthly meeting Monday that he feels confident that the college will get its first portion of state grant money.

The $2.5 million is not a heavy lift, Henningsen said. We can get the ball across the goal line, from the states perspective, in eight years.

He added that the more realistic timeline for getting the states share is five years and that barring something unforeseen, the state will likely give the college money each year until its paid off.

Former Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul, who works on behalf of the colleges foundation in trying to convince state lawmakers to give money, said that with the district commitment he was cautiously optimistic of getting state funding for the project.

Cretul said the colleges request was ranked 16th on the states list of 25 such requests for money. The request is no surprise to state lawmakers because the college had been talking with Tallahassee representatives for the past two years about its need for the money, he said.

Henningsen explained to trustees that the college had a donor lined up but at the 11th hour he donated the money to another college. The colleges current health science center is 30 years old. While the equipment inside is new, state accreditation officials warned the college that in eight years it should be on its way in building a new facility, Henningsen told trustees.

The new building would be used to train students in nursing, emergency medical services, physical therapy, surgical support services and dental hygiene. The college's plan to create more room to train dental hygienists fits with one of the Hospital District's goals: funding programs to provide more dental care to the adult poor.

There are currently 225 associate degree nursing students enrolled at CF. The new building would allow that number to increase to 300, college spokeswoman Lois Brauckmuller told the Star-Banner.

The new facility also would allow the college to double its Bachelor of Science nursing program from the current 75 students to 150.

The college currently has 14 students in its dental assistant program. The new building would allow the college to start a dental hygiene program to include 30 students at any given time in the two-year program.

Trustee Dr. Ken Marino said the districts goal was to focus its grants on local issues and asked how many students would come from outside the area.

We get very few people from outside the region, Henningsen said, adding that many area students instead attend Santa Fe College.

Trustee Chairman David Cope said that he had some concerns that the college wanted the $6 million commitment to stand for as long as eight years.

Marion County Commissioner Kathy Bryant, who is a liaison for the commission to the district, said of the states funding that without the matching funds, its not going to go anywhere.

Cope said after the Monday meeting that he had expected some resistance from other trustees to an eight-year-long commitment.

I thought we were going to get a little more robust discussion about the terms of the commitment, but the pleasure of the board was to approve the eight years, he said. And I just cant imagine (the state) not funding 100 percent of (its share) of the construction project (once its already starting funding permitting and design of the project).

Contact Fred Hiers at fred.hiers@starbanner.com or 352-397-5914.

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Hospital District commits $6M for CF health science center - Ocala