Hope Health Initiative looking to partner with Elim Pentecostal

It appears the Hope Health Initiative has found a home.

    The project that aims at offering accredited post secondary programs, commencing next September, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Elim Pentecostal Tabernacle to develop a lease agreement for a portion of the St. Anthony’s School site, pending a successful purchase of the site by Elim Pentecostal Tabernacle.
    The announcement was made at a public forum on Thursday, September 2.
    “This is a big step for Hope Health Initiative and the community of Drumheller. I am cautiously excited to move forward. There is a boat load of work that will have to be completed if we are going to be ready to welcome students to Hope College in 2011. My hope is that the community will catch on to the excitement of this project and we can all work together to make it succeed,” said Jon Ohlhauser, project leader.
    While the project had designs on the former Drumheller Hospital on Riverside Drive for the institution, it has changed its plan.
    The Initiative has also solicited architectural proposals for the consideration of erecting specialized student residences on the bare land components immediately surrounding the former public hospital site. The actual use of the former hospital building is not being considered for the launch of Hope College in 2011, but remains a valuable component of consideration as the College continues to develop.
    The project has just completed a thorough investigation into the feasibility of establishing a stand-alone college in Drumheller, the leadership of the Hope Health Initiative is confident that there is an economic and development path that can lead to success.
    Hope College intends to launch operations by offering students three program options in the fall of 2011, including Licensed Practical Nurse, Physical Therapy Assistant and Business Administration.
    While the successful launch of Hope College will depend upon a strong enrollment from local residents, the college will need to make strong and strategic directional choices which will position it to not only serve local residents but also become the choice of students who do not reside in the area.
    The business plan developed over the last four months suggests that the college may find sufficient uniqueness in three strategic directions:
1. The identification of uniqueness in rural health delivery and a corresponding rural health education program;
2. The identification of uniqueness is specialized naturopathic health care programming;
3. The identification of uniqueness in character development leading to quality health care graduates.
    For more information on this press release, please visit the Hope Health Initiative website at www.hopehealth.ca.