Work begins on Manchester expansion in Fort Wayne
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Manchester University has broken ground on a $20 million expansion of its health science hub in Fort Wayne. The project, plans for which were announced in December, is designed to meet high demand for more space for the university’s health care offerings, including physical therapy and nursing.
The expansion will add more than 32,000 square feet of space to Manchester’s Fort Wayne operations, located on the campus of Parkview Regional Medical Center.
The new space will include an interprofessional clinic designed to give students and faculty hands-on experience, as well as physical therapy teaching labs, research and spaces, a nursing simulation and skills laboratory, and multiple collaboration areas for students.
Manchester said its online students will also benefit from upgrades in technology at the facility.
“Our expanded presence in Fort Wayne is designed for those who will practice well into the 21st century,” said Thomas Smith, dean of health sciences and pharmacy at Manchester. “We are maximizing our space – and providing world-class resources to our world-class faculty – to accommodate today’s learners and tomorrow’s health care providers.”
In a December interview with Inside INdiana Business, Manchester President Dave McFadden, who is retiring at the end of this month, said the goal of the expansion is to continue to grow the health sciences workforce.
“The health sciences field is so understaffed across the country and especially in northeast Indiana. Anything that we can do to help fill those needs in hospitals and care centers, we want to do,” McFadden said. “The obvious places for us are intersections with programs that we’ve been good at for a long period of time, including things like pharmacy with pharmacogenomics, nutrition…and nursing and physical therapy are naturals for us as well.”
The expansion is expected to be complete in the fall of 2024.