A new Long Beach Memorial clinic, which will replace Peterson Hall, is set to run on campus by the year 2026, which will run in collaboration with the Long Beach State nursing program.
Matthew Williams, the current director of the school of nursing at CSULB, said the idea was to open a center where students wouldn’t need to cross campus for their medical needs.
In addition, the clinic would be multifunctional and provide services including nursing, social work, nutrition, athletic training, speech and language pathology and health care administration.
“We need places where our students can have real hands-on experience,” Williams said.
The school wants to be able to have one center where people, both students and the general community, can have a full experience as far as getting all of their medical needs satisfied.
The clinic would be funded and run by Long Beach Memorial. It will function as any other Long Beach Memorial clinic, where patients would be required to provide health insurance or a copayment. Students would be charged the same as any other patient, but still have free medical access at the Student Health Services.
Jane Close Conoley, president of CSULB, said this was a good opportunity for the university to provide service for the city and better engage with the general Long Beach community.
“It’s seen as a win-win for us and for [Long Beach Memorial],” Conoley said.
Students in the nursing, physical therapy and athletic training programs would gain hands-on training at the new clinic, according to Conoley, which was one of the top beneficiaries of this collaboration.
“It’s exciting and evolving,” Williams said. “We’re dreaming about what can be the best healthcare experience for people.”
This is the first partnership between a CSU and local hospital that will serve both the campus and the general public.
Monica Lounsbury, the dean of the College of Health and Human Services, originally pushed for the collaboration. Lounsbury wanted to push departments, such as the athletic training and nursing programs, together to collaborate on medical work where the two disciplines crossed.
Michelle Cheska, the previous vice president for University Relations and Development, knew Long Beach Memorial looking to open more community clinics and suggested they open on campus. Long Beach Memorial agreed and has donated $10 million toward the project.
The plans for demolition are to go through in 2024 with initial plans of opening the clinic for the community by 2026.