It's Year Two for the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Mike Moore and Olga Valieva represent two very different types of students in the newest class at the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Terrace Heights.

Moore is 46 years old and has been deployed to Iraq twice as a physician assistant. Valieva, 25, is just a few years out of the University of Washington, where she majored in biology and anthropology.

Despite their different life experiences, they share a vision with the rest of the Class of 2013, which starts on its four-year journey today at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.

Valieva, of Seattle, is eager to learn the osteopathic way, which grounds students in the philosophy of treating the whole person to prevent, diagnose and treat illness, disease and injury.

Moore, of University Place, Wash., likes the college's philosophy of team-based medicine: The doctor is not God, as one academic administrator recently put it.

Despite all his medical experience, Moore says he has a lot to learn.

"Everyone says I have a leg up, but medical knowledge turns over every five years. I have to unlearn as well as learn," he said.

The new year for students like Moore falls on the college's first anniversary, a year marked by milestones as well as lessons learned.

******

Dr. Stan Flemming, the university's president, counts the dedication last year of the $13 million building that houses the college as the most important achievement.

"It allowed us to begin the first steps of growing to more of a university setting," he said.

But the first year also brought some challenges.

University officials encountered some tough financial sledding that forced them to raise tuition this summer 15 percent and cut another 15 percent in operating expenses.

The board of trustees and the administration had originally set tuition lower than the college's peers in osteopathic medical education at the same time they overestimated private donations, said Flemming.

The economic downturn hurt donations, throwing the university's projected budget off balance.

"When you start something new and you don't have a lot of experience, your projections are best guesses based on personal business experience," Flemming said.

"Cash flow was challenging," he added.

To make ends meet, executive salaries were cut 5 percent, planned hiring of faculty was delayed and all university-related travel was subject to extra scrutiny. New programs will be added only on a "pay as you go" basis.

Annual tuition increased to $40,000. That's still in the midrange of tuition charged by comparable medical schools, Flemming said.

He said the university is now on solid financial footing.

"I feel a lot better than I did three or four months ago," he said.

The operating budget for the current 2010 fiscal year is $9.9 million. The vast majority, $6.3 million, comes from tuition. The rest is $1.5 million in donations and $400,000 in state funding. The state will award another $400,000 next June.

That leaves the university with $1.5 million to raise from private sources. Flemming says it will be a challenge but not an insurmountable one.

"This community has been very generous on a per capita basis," he said.

That generosity will be tested Oct. 17 with "The President's Gala," a $125-per-ticket fundraiser billed as "glamorous, sophisticated and dazzling" and "reminiscent of swank supper clubs of the fabulous '40s."

******

Academically, the university is on course toward accreditation by two important bodies.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine jumped through its first major hoop toward full accreditation by the Commission on Osteopathic Accreditation by passing a two-day site inspection in January that focused on financial stability and leadership.

The commission made several recommendations, which the university satisfied in July. Among them: establishing a faculty senate and setting up a process for students to file complaints with the American Osteopathic Association.

Full accreditation isn't awarded until the first class graduates in 2012.

In the meantime, the commission continues evaluating the college.

Recently, another accrediting body -- the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities -- accepted the university's application for candidacy, according to Ron Baker, executive vice president of the commission, which is based in Redmond.

The Northwest Commission is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the regional authority on educational quality. Baker said if candidacy is granted, the college has another five years to demonstrate it meets eligibility requirements for full accreditation.

Medical students are also sharing the campus with four new students working on their master of biomedical sciences degrees. The program is the first in the new College of Allied Health.

Offered in conjunction with Central Washington University, the biomedical sciences program is geared to those interested in research.

Students spend their first year on campus and finish the second at Central, which is the degree-conferring institution until the College of Allied Health is accredited.

The program is also expected to appeal to students who want to apply to medical school but don't have the grades they need in the sciences.

A third program still in the planning stages is the College of Postgraduate Studies, which is developing a mental-health professional program with Central.

******

Returning medical students are in for something new as well.

The college is launching a new instructional philosophy for second-year students that gets away from the traditional lecture and memorization format.

Instead, students will be assigned specific readings that they will complete on their own. In class, they will stand and respond to a specific clinical problem -- say, chest pain -- and apply what they've studied. The instructor probes the depth of the student's knowledge with questions.

Dean Robyn Phillips-Madson said research shows the "application oriented curriculum" leads to better scores on medical boards. It's also more effective with millennial generation students -- the offspring of baby boomers -- who live and learn in a multimedia world.

Outside the classroom, student clubs, like the Emergency Medicine Interest Group and the OB/GYN Club, are up and running.

Students are also active in the community.

Last spring, they resurrected a defunct free clinic at the Union Gospel Mission where, under the supervision of a doctor, they take medical histories and perform physicals.

The students received a $30,000 grant from the American Association of Medical Colleges for the program, which promotes compassion and service as essential components of being a doctor.

They are exploring an expansion of the clinic to other parts of the Yakima Valley.

"It's been a labor of love on their part," said Phillips-Madson.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.

College of Osteopathic Medicine

Fast Facts for the Class of 2013

Class size: 75

Applicants per seat: 32

Students from the Northwest: 59

Average cumulative GPA: 3.44

Average science GPA: 3.36

Average age: 25.7

Gender: 32 women, 43 men

Married: 26

Number with children: 15

• Jobs
  www.yakjobs.com
• Homes
  www.yakhomes.com
• 
• 
  
• Autos
  www.yakwheels.com

• All Special Pubs Yakima Magazine Channels YakJobs.com YakWheels.com YakHomes.com Playdate Yakima Bride Yakima Wheels (Print) Home Buyer's Guide Baby Brag Book Graduates 2009 Summer in the Valley Prep Football 2009 Women in Business Holiday Gift Guide
• Advertisement