Medical school will transform ASU, NEA

From the Jonesboro Sun, 6/5/2016, By Chris Wessel, Editor

It’s hard to adequately grasp the significance of opening a medical school in Northeast Arkansas, but here are a few interesting facts that should lend perspective to such an endeavor:

• It’s been 137 years since a medical school was opened in Arkansas. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences opened in 1879, 14 years after the end of the Civil War. Eight founding doctors put up $675 each to start the school, according to its website, which now represents nearly $4 billion annually in economic impact to the state.
• While the economic impact of the New York Institute for Technology’s College of Osteopathic Medicine at ASU may be a long way from reaching that lofty level, one day it could, and that means big things for ASU, Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas.
• NYIT’s College of Osteopathic Medicine at ASU, which opened Thursday in the completely renovated Wilson Hall, is only the second medical school in the state. A group in the northwest part of the state is also seeking to open and osteopathic medical school.
• NYIT’s campus is 1,100 miles from Jonesboro, yet its administrators and medical staff felt a shared mission with those at A-State to establish a medical school on its campus primarily to serve the needs of those underserved by health care who live in the Delta. That’s a noble cause and a valiant effort.
• One hundred and twenty-four students are enrolled to start the first classes on Aug. 8, and 150 are on a waiting list to get into the medical school. That means a potential of 124 new doctors in the first graduating class and 150 in the second. I already see a trend. While all of those doctors won’t stay in Northeast Arkansas, many will, and that will ensure future generations of doctors to take care of the health needs of our region. Few of us think much about health care until we need it. Then it quickly becomes the No. 1 issue in our lives.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who attended Thursday’s rededication of Wilson Hall, called the ASU/NYIT partnership “amazing.” Who could disagree? ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson used the word “transformative” to describe the impact the medical school will have on the university and the region.

I think the word “monumental” fits as well: historically notable, important or of lasting value, as it’s defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

Thursday’s luncheon at Centennial Hall on the ASU campus was packed with supporters and community leaders as well as those from the medical community in Northeast Arkansas and from NYIT. Several of the speakers recognized the efforts of those who worked tirelessly on the project, including Brad Parsons, CEO of NEA Baptist Health System, Chris Barber, president and CEO of St. Bernards Healthcare, and Mark Young, president and CEO of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Hudson, who tapped A-State Vice Chancellor Jason Penry as the point man on the medical school project, said Penry didn’t falter in his leadership. He noted that Penry was a former pitcher for the Red Wolves, a lefty, who was a closer — the pitcher who comes into the game to ensure victory.

Well, Penry, a young man with a bright mind, a warm smile and the diplomacy of a bank president, certainly closed the deal. He deserves recognition as the university leader who made the medical school happen.

Of course, a lot of folks from ASU, NEA, Jonesboro and NYIT deserve recognition and thanks for their efforts to bring about this historic effort to open the second medical school in the state. It’s a big, big deal — one that many of us may not fully realize for years to come.

Who wasn’t mentioned — probably because most Arkansans aren’t a big fan — was President Barack Obama. While Hutchinson made a reference to the Legislature’s passage of his Arkansas Works program — the remodeled, renamed private option — nobody mentioned Obamacare, the government health care program that provides health insurance for poor people.

There’s a reason why people in the Delta and rural Arkansas don’t have access to quality health care: They have little, if any, money to spend on such extravagances. Therefore, there are few doctors and fewer hospitals to serve that demographic. There’s no money in it. Obamacare, morphed into the private option in Arkansas and now morphed into Arkansas Works or whatever you want to call it, provides private health insurance for low-income workers and their families through Medicaid dollars from the federal government.

Love it or hate it, I can’t help but believe Obamacare played a major role in the opening of Arkansas’ second medical school in Jonesboro.

Health care isn’t cheap, and there’s no such thing as “free.” Somebody pays the bill.

Chris Wessel, editor of The Sun, can be reached at 935-5525, Ext. 250, or by email at cwessel@jonesborosun.com.