[UPDATE] Dusty Warehouse Near Arcata Gets $10 Million Investment to Turn It Into New Healthcare Education Hub

Smiling students in College of the Redwoods’ nursing program mill around at yesterday’s press conference inside the soon to be renovated warehouse which is slated to become the new Healthcare Education Hub. [All photos and videos by Ryan Hutson]

McGuire, Cal Poly Humboldt’s President Tom Jackson, Jr., College of the Redwoods President Keith Flamer, Darian Harris, the newly appointed CEO of Providence Health in Humboldt County, as well as several local nursing students gathered inside a dusty warehouse in Arcata to make a game-changing announcement Tuesday, November 1st with a small gaggle of local reporters in attendance. The press conference unveiled plans to complete a high-tech cutting edge facility that has the potential to bolster local nursing programs between regional college campuses and revealed an unprecedented investment for the region’s healthcare education opportunities. 

The 50,000 square foot industrial warehouse located on the outskirts of Arcata, at 1601 Samoa Boulevard where the press conference was held, the previous site of the Industrial Electric Service Company, is going to be the newest addition to the much-touted local nursing program between College of the Redwoods (CR) and Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH).  Elaborating on what would become of the space, and what it could offer to local students, McGuire said, “We know that Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino and Trinity Counties have some of the largest shortages of nurses and healthcare professionals in the entire Golden State, and what we know is that we have to grow our own.” 

Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr and Executive Director of Initiatives for Cal Poly Humboldt Connie Stewart explained that the $10,000,000 investment from the state will be to get the building ready to accommodate the expanding program, and specifically to house the Healthcare Education Hub. President Jackson said he felt it was important to build up the program, adding “It’s very meaningful for both campuses, and they transform how we train leaders in the future.” 

Stewart explained what the $10 million would  “take this warehouse and turn it into an innovation hub, where both campuses can teach healthcare providers in a single space—sharing equipment, state of the art equipment, make sure the people can seamlessly transfer between programs so we can accelerate healthcare workforce in the region, and get people and our students…staying here and working to make everyone healthier.”   

Smiling dignitaries hold the $2,000,000 check given by St. Joseph Health (now Providence) to start the nursing program in 2019. [All photos and videos by Ryan Hutson]

McGuire explained that many types of technical training will be available via the new Healthcare Education Hub. McGuire proclaimed with enthusiasm, “We’re gonna be educating the EMT’s in this building, we’re gonna be educating technicians, psychiatric technicians, scrub technicians – you name the type of healthcare professional, they’ll be learning in the new Healthcare Education Hub right on the North Coast.”

Among the crowd of nursing students on hand for  the press conference and obligatory photo op, were several CR nursing students at various stages in the program, wearing green scrubs for the cameras.  One student named Alexander, only a matter of a few months into the nursing program, offered his insights on the day’s big news. Looking around the expansive warehouse space, sparsely filled with supplies and furniture yet to be allocated on campus, the CR nursing student noted it felt “amazing to see how much the community cares about about nursing and healthcare as a field,” and added that it was an, “amazing show of financial support, show of camaraderie between CR and Cal Poly Humboldt… and it makes me hopeful for the future of healthcare in the community.” 

Explaining that he was only a few months into the program, he said that there was a lot of hope and excitement in pursuing a career in healthcare, saying, “[I]t’s finally tangible, and putting my hands on a patient kind of reaffirms my feelings on the value of the work.” He added that after living in the area for six years, and having family in the area, he would like to stay if career opportunities allowed. 

As movers and shakers of the healthcare education scene enjoyed casual conversation following the presser, new recruit to the area, Darian Harris, Providence Health’s CEO in Humboldt, offered some feedback on the day’s announcement. He said that his introduction to Humboldt County’s healthcare landscape was informed by each of the college campus heads, as well as by the lead voice at DHHS, Connie Beck.  “It’s been really exciting for me to get a chance to learn from Dr. Flamer and Dr. Jackson, Connie Beck and a number of other folks who have continued to invest in the development and the workforce here,” he explained. “And, I think this investment in this new health training facility here in Arcata is an exceptional example of that. It’s going to play a key role, obviously, in this very innovative solution to help us really position and train the workforce of the future.” He added, “That’s a really exciting development for all of our communities in Humboldt County, and Del Norte for that matter as well.”

In regard to our local healthcare workforce, reflecting on the various stages of the pandemic and how the lack of resources and complications of a highly transmissible novel virus played in to the needs of a rural hospital landscape, the hospital CEO new to Humboldt acknowledged the challenges, saying, “Recruitment and development and training is key to our future and success. But equally important, especially coming out of what has amounted to a very shared, traumatic experience going through the pandemic, both for our communities, and for our healthcare workforce – making sure that we’re investing in the health and the well-being not only of our community, but in our caregivers is key as we move forward.”  

Addressing the concern of retention after new hires are brought on, Harris added, “there’s challenges as it relates to workforce retention across the country… as people continue to choose and discern sort of the ideal path for them – whether in healthcare or outside of healthcare – it’s important for us to continue to invest in the caregivers that we have, in their fulfillment, in the work that they do,…why they chose to come into healthcare in the first place.”

Harris added, “And it’s our opportunity to really continue investing in them getting that joy, fulfillment or empowerment in that work that they do, and that’s going to help support our efforts to ensure we’re retaining these amazing additional nurses that are coming in the field today.” 

With Senator McGuire stating that the program currently graduates 17 RNs a year, estimating that the program will soon be able to graduate 25 new RNs, we asked how many local RN grads were hired by Providence in Humboldt County in 2022, but did not receive a response before press time. 

Thanking Senator McGuire for his remarks, when asked if he had anything to add, the Senator reflected on the past four years and the efforts to “grow” local nursing on the North Coast.  He replied, “What we realized four years ago is that we have to grow our own. So, we started the Bachelors of Sciences in Nursing Program. We…expanded the pipeline in addition to CR’s Humboldt RN program. We started a second program up in Crescent City. Now, we’re gonna have a healthcare home.” 

The property that will hold this new enterprise is nearly four acres in size, and according to details given at today’s press conference at the warehouse location, it boasts over 30,000 square feet of functional space to be converted for use by nursing students climbing the educational ladder between the joint campus program at College of the Redwoods and it’s next-level counterpart, Cal Poly Humboldt, all with an eye on local healthcare jobs at the end of the tunnel. 

With Cal Poly’s purchase of the lot for roughly $2.5 million in 2008, plans are underway to do some renovations, according to a statement from CPH.  Back at the time of the purchase, the Humboldt State University wrote, “[M]inor seismic upgrades, roof repairs and office refurbishment are planned at a cost to be estimated shortly.” At this time it is unclear, due to the building sitting unused, if these modifications were completed, or if those still need to be accomplished. 

According to McGuire,  “This Healthcare Education Hub will now be home to multiple medical disciplines from both Cal Poly Humboldt, as well as College of the Redwoods – all of the training will now happen under one roof at what is now a dusty 30,000 square foot warehouse – [This] will become the most modern learning lab for healthcare professionals between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Oregon border.” 

Projecting a timeline of two to three years for the location to be incorporated into the higher education program as it expands, McGuire added, “We’re gonna be breaking ground, and we should have the Healthcare Education Hub done within the next 24 to 36 months.”

UPDATE 10:45 a.m.: Press release from the Office of Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire:

Healthcare Education Hub Senator McGuire News conference [Photo provided by the Office of Senator McGuire]

Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire, along with Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr., College of the Redwoods President Keith Flamer and local healthcare and elected leaders, gathered today to announce a $10 million investment in the creation of a Healthcare Education Hub that will become the epicenter of healthcare career training on the North Coast.

McGuire secured the $10 million in this year’s state budget. The funding will transform a 30,000 square foot dusty warehouse in Arcata into a state-of-the-art learning lab focused on the development of a healthcare workforce in Northern California. This is a historic investment that will help grow healthcare career programs at both Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods.

“We’ve made so much progress over the last four years thanks to this innovative partnership with the College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt. We restarted Cal Poly Humboldt’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, we expanded the College of the Redwoods nursing program and now we’re launching the Healthcare Education Hub, which will become the epicenter of healthcare career training for our region,” McGuire said. “This $10 million will help buildout the most modern healthcare learning lab between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Oregon border and will train thousands of healthcare professionals, from multiple career tracks, in the years to come.” 

The Healthcare Education Hub will be used to train health professionals such as nurses, psychiatric technicians, EMTs, scrub technicians, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, and more.

College of the Redwoods President Keith Flamer said, “We are very aware that our future depends on a strong partnership between College of the Redwoods, Cal Poly Humboldt, Senator McGuire and our community partners. We clearly understand that we can better help all students on the North Coast by working together rather than separately. This Healthcare Education Hub is another example of what we can do if we dream and work together.”

Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson, Jr. said, “We’re grateful to Senator McGuire for his commitment to deliver on the health care needs of the North Coast. We’re looking forward to collaborating with College of the Redwoods to transform this building into a center where the next generation of health care professionals will be educated,” Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson, Jr. said. “This investment in CR is also an investment in our region – one that will help our entire healthcare system become more resilient while providing new opportunities for students and professionals.”

This article is written by Ryan Hutson, a local freelance journalist. Follow Ryan at Humboldt Freelance Reporting on Facebook, Insta and YouTube. To support Ryan’s award winning reporting, please consider donating here.