Groundbreaking Ceremony for LBCC’s Health Occupations Center

Artist rendering of LBCC Health Occupations Center

Albany, OR. - A groundbreaking ceremony for Linn-Benton Community College’s new Health Occupations Center will be held Tuesday, August 25 at 9 a.m. on the Samaritan Health Systems campus, Mullins Drive, Lebanon.

The new 40,000-square-foot training center will bring LBCC’s healthcare programs into one learning space. The center is the first of four projects made possible by the passage of a $34 million bond last November to improve job-training facilities at the college.

LBCC healthcare programs include nursing, nursing assistant, medical assistant, dental assistant, occupational therapy assistant, diagnostic imaging, phlebotomy, pharmacy technician, and polysomnographic technology.

Currently, the programs are housed at several different locations in Linn County including the Albany campus, the LBCC Lebanon Center and Lebanon hospital.

According to the college, moving the health care programs into the same learning environment will provide greater opportunity for collaboration between programs and sharing of resources for students in health care careers. The move also brings the programs close to Samaritan Health facilities and COMP-NW Medical School.

The estimated cost for construction is $16.05 million, with $8.05 million coming from bond funding and $8 million in matching funds from the State of Oregon. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in October, with an expected completion date in early 2017.

A second groundbreaking will take place September 16 at 9:30 a.m. at LBCC’s Advanced Transportation Technology Center in Lebanon. The next phase of the ATTC project includes construction of an Innovation and Training Center.

Plans are still underway for the two additional projects: expansion of parking and classrooms at the LBCC Benton Center in Corvallis, and modernization of facilities at the LBCC Albany campus with an emphasis on industrial trades and career transfer programs.