By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Ground has been broken in St. Joseph as the University of Missouri-Kansas City expands its medical program in the city with a $14.5 million building.
The building will be located on Faraon Street across from the Mosaic Life Care complex and will expand a program begun by UMKC at Mosaic three years ago.
State Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph remembered the first meeting between UMKC and Mosaic officials in April of 2019, praising Mosaic officials for the reception they gave UMKC’s proposal.
“They took the meeting and they listened to UMKC’s proposal of creating a school in a rural setting to train rural doctors,” Shields said during a ceremony held at the site. “Creating the school is important, because we know that doctors that train in rural settings set up their practice in rural settings.”
Shields praised the UMKC students who came to Mosaic at the beginning of the program to begin their academic career.
“Who took a risk in January of 2021 to come here and go to school, that they bought into our idea that we were creating the premiere school in the nation to train rural physicians,” Shields said.
The elaborate ground-breaking ceremony under a huge white tent at Faraon and Riverside attracted a wide variety of officials: political, medical, and academic.
The project took a huge step forward when former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt secured $13 million in federal funds. The state of Missouri contributed $1.5 million. The money will finance construction of a 22,000 square foot building expected to open in 2025.
The building will have the capacity to train 80 students with a graduating class of 20 each year, designed specifically to address rural health care needs.
University of Missouri system president Mun Choi attended the ground-breaking ceremonies in St. Joseph and got a chance to speak with UMKC students seeking their degree at Mosaic.
“I had a chance to meet a few of the students. I’m going to meet all of you before the day is out,” Choi told the large audience in attendance. “And I asked them the question, ‘Will you serve you serve rural Missouri?’ And, to a person, they said yes. I’m going to hold you to it.”
The UMKC program is designed specifically to address medical needs in rural parts of the area.