A new health centre at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus is expected to play a significant role in addressing the province’s health-care crisis.
Announced on Monday, the Health and Social Innovation Centre will become a hub for health-care research and innovation.
“It will attract private sector investments, create jobs and contribute to our economic growth,” Premier Blaine Higgs told a large crowd inside a UNB Saint John library.
The $38-million project includes $12 million from the provincial government, $15.2 million from the federal government, and $10.8 million from the university.
Higgs said the new centre will also open the door for a new four-year interdisciplinary undergraduate program in health.
Higgs estimated 500 new students will be enrolled in the new program within five years.
The vacant Ward Chipman Library on the Saint John campus will be demolished to make space for the centre. According to a news release, the new building will be nearly 6,000 square metres and three and a half storeys.
“(It will) provide access to high-quality health-care education. It will help strengthen the province’s health-care system and research capacity well into the future,” said Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities.
Dr. Petra Hauf, vice president of the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus, said the announcement allows the university to begin the Integrated Health Initiative, “Which is an initiative focusing on health and systemic change within our health-care system. It’s providing education for a new generation of health-care workers, who will be able to think outside of the box, be creative, but also be flexible and adaptive,” she remarked.
Hauf noted there will also be a focus on research clusters.
“Research focusing on ageing in the community, for example, on digital transformation in the health-care sector, on management in health.”
Hauf stated rising prices have inflated the cost of construction. While the funding announced Monday covers the initial costs, she said they have started a campaign to seek out donors for additional funding support.
The university hopes to begin the demolition of the former library in the spring and open the doors to the centre by September 2024.
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