The Dirt: First health simulator planned for Spokane’s University District
Washington State University officials submitted a remodel permit application to the city of Spokane to build a health simulator at its Spokane campus.
A project contemplated by the Center for Native American Health, the simulator will be, “the nation’s first indigenous-developed and instructed clinical simulation space,” according to a report published in WSU Insider.
Located in the Health Education and Research Building, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd., the project will span roughly 1,300 square feet and be used to simulate a real hospital with patient-exam rooms, multiple offices, storage and a conference room, plans show.
The operation will function with the guidance of Indigenous health professionals. Both Native and non-Native students and clinicians will “gain a holistic view of care with the help of Native instructors in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and allied health, and areas of traditional healing perspectives,” the WSU report read.
“Throughout our histories and across the world, it has taken the listening ears, minds and hearts of our allies and friends who wanted to see a more peaceful, kind and equitable world,” Naomi Bender, director of WSU Spokane’s Native American Health Sciences program, told the WSU Insider.
Plans were submitted by Kendra Kurz, project manager at WSU, who could not immediately be reached last week for comment.
The estimated cost of the undertaking is $560,000, of which $250,000 will be paid for by a grant from Bank of America, according to a news release.
Graham Construction, a Calgary, Alberta-based firm, will remodel the space. DLR Group, with headquarters in Omaha, designed the project.
Providence plans $42 million modernization project
In September of last year, officials at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center announced a project to modernize its 30-year -old Heart Institute, according to Spokesman-Review reports.
Earlier this month, a commercial building remodel permit application was submitted to the city of Spokane for the project’s first phase, located on the fifth floor of the institute at 62 W. Seventh Ave.
The focal point of the first-phase project is a new catheterization laboratory machine, which is a specialized piece of medical equipment that uses X-rays and contrast dye to visualize the heart and its blood vessels.
Additional work will include installing a rooftop air conditioning unit and tenant improvements to the electrocardiography and blood draw laboratories, plans show.
The estimated cost of construction is $4 million, according to the application documents.
Plans were submitted by Glenn Faulkner, project manager for the health provider.
Spokane-based Bouten Construction will remodel the space. JRJ Architects, based in Beaverton, Oregon, designed the remodel project.
Project planned near Franklin Park
A 0.17-acre lot, whic h currently consists of a single-family home, may soon be split into four separate properties, according to plans submitted to the city of Spokane.
Referred to as a unit lot subdivision in Spokane City code, these projects include dividing a property into smaller lots, some as wide as the residential building itself.
Cities around the country have begun expanding their building codes to incentivize more unit lot subdivision projects including Spokane which saw an ordinance signed into law at the beginning of last year to allow the developments.
Located at 5127 N. Lincoln St., the project includes seven parking spaces and a walking path to service each of the four lots.
Each lot will feature a building with a footprint of about 600 square feet.
According to Spokane County property records, the property is owned by Easy Home Buyer.