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Medical Center Plans Sports Medicine Complex at WKU

WKU Public Affairs

Western Kentucky University is entering into a long-term partnership with the Medical Center at Bowling Green. 

The WKU Board of Regents met in special session on Friday and approved a new $22 million sports medicine complex on campus that will be constructed and paid for by the hospital. 

The new facility will provide space for WKU’s Department of Physical Therapy and the Med Center Health’s new Orthopaedic/Sports Medicine/Rehabilitation group.  WKU President Gary Ransdell says the complex will benefit the school in many ways.

"Let's start with the $22 million investment on campus, major enhancements to our Doctorate of Physical Therapy program to pick them in concert with a sports medicine and orthopaedic group, and a partnership with an exceedingly strong health care provider in our community," Ransdell told WKU Public Radio.

The 57,000-square-foot complex will also include an indoor multi-purpose facility.  It will be located between the football practice field and the baseball field on Avenue of Champions.

Med Center Health will become the official health care partner of WKU will eventually operate the campus health services center that is currently run by the Graves-Gilbert Clinic.Regent Barbara Burch voted against the project after expressing concerns about possibly locking out partnerships with other health care providers.

"We've got some wonderful medical partners and providers in this community, including the Medical Center, and we've got a history of successful partnerships with all of them," commented Burch.  "I just think that with more time and more information we might have been able to tweak this in a way that it would have been a more certain win for everybody."

Other regents who cast dissenting votes said they feared the project would face some backlash in the community and felt the timing was not appropriate as a search is underway for WKU’s next president.  The project was approved on a 6-4 vote with one abstention. 

Lisa is a Scottsville native and WKU alum. She has worked in radio as a news reporter and anchor for 18 years. Prior to joining WKU Public Radio, she most recently worked at WHAS in Louisville and WLAC in Nashville. She has received numerous awards from the Associated Press, including Best Reporter in Kentucky. Many of her stories have been heard on NPR.