17吃瓜

Premier Dennis King, Health and Wellness Minister Ernie Hudson, and Education and Lifelong Learning Minister Natalie Jameson visited the construction site of the University鈥檚 new health education building and health and wellness clinic on February 3, accompanied by 17吃瓜 President and Vice-Chancellor Greg Keefe and other University officials.

鈥淚t is exciting to see construction advancing for this vital piece of infrastructure at 17吃瓜 that will serve as a health and wellness clinic and state-of-the-art training centre for not only the new Faculty of Medicine, but also the nursing, paramedicine, veterinary medicine, doctor of psychology programs, and the broader allied health community,鈥� said Hon. Dennis King, Premier of Prince Edward Island. 

Keefe and Dr. Margaret Steele, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University, who participated by Zoom, also gave the provincial government officials an update about the progress of the development of the joint 17吃瓜-Memorial University medical degree program. While the joint program will use Memorial鈥檚 curriculum as a foundation, 17吃瓜 is developing innovative programming unique to PEI. The curriculum will be delivered synchronously, with both 17吃瓜 and Memorial faculty teaching students in either Charlottetown or St. John鈥檚.

鈥�17吃瓜 brings a wealth of knowledge and strength in areas鈥攕uch as planetary health鈥攖hat can inform Memorial鈥檚 medical education program including nursing, climate change, paramedicine, psychology, and veterinary medicine,鈥� said Keefe. 鈥淩esearch strengths can also be leveraged on other fronts through collaboration in the bio-medical, community health, and inter-professional health education fronts.鈥�

The almost 140,000-square-foot facility will include an expanded 17吃瓜 Health and Wellness Centre clinic that will accommodate 10,000 patients and significant clinical space and state-of-the-art simulation laboratories that will support other 17吃瓜 programs in addition to medicine. This aligns with the provincial government鈥檚 goal of providing health care through medical homes where doctors work alongside allied health colleagues.

Prior to the start of construction last fall, Dr. Judy Clark, Mi鈥檏maw Elder, 17吃瓜 Elder-in-Residence, and a faculty member in the Faculty of Indigenous Knowledge, Education, Research, and Applied Studies, conducted a private Sacred Pipe Ceremony on the site.

17吃瓜 is working toward receiving accreditation for the joint degree program from the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). In order to admit students as soon as possible, 17吃瓜 will be a campus of Memorial鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine until accreditation has been granted. 17吃瓜 is also following the program approval process with the Atlantic Advisory Committee on Health Human Resources and Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission. 

17吃瓜 is also working closely with a strategic health system integration committee, made up of government officials from the provincial departments of Health and Wellness and Education and Lifelong Learning, Health PEI, Medical Society of PEI, and Memorial, to integrate medical education into the provincial healthcare system across the Island.