Take a drive through the UMKC Health Sciences District and you’ll see progress. At 22nd and Charlotte, construction crews are hard at work building University Health 2: Women’s and Primary Care.
The 80,000 square foot medical office building expands Truman Medical Center’s University Health brand, connecting people with our mission as an academic medical center, and increasing our capacity to provide accessible, state-of-the-art care.
It was an overcast sky last October 30, when we broke ground on University Health 2. TMC President and CEO Charlie Shields told the assembled crowd that UH2, scheduled to open in summer of 2020, will help strengthen our affiliation with UMKC and the Health Sciences District. “We’ve been using the University Health brand to bring awareness of our role as an Academic Medical Center – working hand-in-hand with the University and teaching the health professionals of the future,” he said.
Dr. Mauli Agrawal, UMKC Chancellor echoed Shields’ statement about bolstering the ties among the partners in the HSD. “Today may be about digging dirt, but tomorrow is about making sure the city, the region, and the nation know about what’s going on right here to create the future of health care.”
Moving Women’s Care to the new building will have a domino effect as TMC’s 6th floor will now have room for much needed renovations- including a new Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), connected by the Bridge of Hope to Children’s Mercy’s Level 4 NICU. “I cannot tell you the difference all of this will make for our staff and patients, including our newborns,” said Dev Maulik, MD, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “It will mean families having the space and privacy and updated facilities they deserve.”
Patients indeed are the reason for the improvements. Charles Pearson has been a TMC patient for nearly 35 years and plans on continuing his care with Dr. Richard Butin at the new building. “When people ask, how did you make it 85-years without tgetting sick I tell them: By the grace of God… and having a good doctor,” he said. “I would follow Dr. Butin anywhere his practice takes him… but am excited that it’s not a far move to this new, beautiful building – University Health 2.”
We are looking forward to hosting a ribbon cutting for University Health 2 in the summer of 2020.
And thrilled to announce that the Charitable Foundation has raised nearly $15 of the $18.9 million goal for the campaign to renovate the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We look forward to capping off the campaign successfully within the next several months.