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Forum: Sharing of space will have benefits
One information-technology course is being offered at the Forum location this fall.
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Walter "Buzz" Pishkur
By Harold Gwin
YOUNGSTOWN — Arranging for the new Eastern Gateway Community College to rent space in Forum Health’s Northside Medical Center is “a beneficial partnership on many levels,” said Forum Health’s president and CEO.
Walter “Buzz” Pishkur, in a letter to Forum employees, said the deal enhances Northside’s reputation and legacy as an educational institution, provides employees access to new educational opportunities and helps create educational opportunities for every citizen of the Mahoning Valley.
“I believe this partnership should send a clear message to our employees and our community that Northside Medical Center and Forum Health are planning for a successful future in new and innovative ways,” Pishkur said. “We are reinventing our hospitals to be relevant and productive facilities that will serve our children and our grandchildren.”
Eastern Gateway is leasing a small suite of offices and a classroom in 1,851 square feet of vacant space in the Health Education Building on Gypsy Lane. The space will be known as Valley Center. It will offer one information-technology class there with an accompanying lab beginning Aug. 17.
Other classes will be offered at existing educational sites in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties.
The college has an option for an additional 700 to 3,000 square feet at Valley Center in the spring, if needed.
Laura Meeks, president of Jefferson (County) Community College (which will now be the Jefferson Campus of Eastern Gateway) and assistant to the Ohio chancellor of higher education for the development of the new community college, said terms of the lease arrangement haven’t been finalized.
It’s all been done on a handshake agreement to this point, she said.
Northside Medical Center is the region’s largest and oldest teaching hospital with roots dating back to 1881, Pishkur said, stressing the importance of maintaining that legacy.
The increased access the community college will provide to educational opportunities will lead to a better-trained work force that is prepared for the jobs of the future, such as health care, he said.
“With such a work force available, new businesses will find our Valley, and our regional economy will grow,” he predicted.
For more information on Eastern Gateway course offerings, visit www.easterngatewaycc.com or call (800) 682-6553, ext. 236.
gwin@vindy.com