Pamella DeVos joins anniversary celebration of flagship Health Campus building

Grand Valley nursing and health profession students who will graduate in April are well-prepared for the workforce, in part, because of where they spent the majority of their class time.

The DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH) opened in 2021. This is the first class of students to graduate having spent most of their four years in that building, considered the flagship building of GVSU's Health Campus. Students, university leaders and lead donor Pamella DeVos celebrated those students and community partnerships March 25 at an event in the building.

In April, a combined 450 students will graduate with degrees from GVSU's Kirkhof College of Nursing and College of Health Professions. They will add to the more than 7,500 nursing and health care professionals who graduated from Grand Valley and work in West Michigan.

DCIH, which houses the Kirkhof College of Nursing and College of Health Professions, anchors the east end of Grand Rapids' Medical Mile. Among its features is a state-of-the-art simulation center that is among the largest in Michigan. The 68,000-square-foot simulation center includes a hospital immersion suite; four rooms with immersive, interactive technology; and an anatomy lab with advanced 3D dissection capabilities.

President Philomena V. Mantella said the addition of DCIH enhances the university's ability to educate students for the changing landscape of health care by placing an emphasis on interprofessional care and continuing Grand Valley's rich history of creating community partnerships.

"This building was designed to immerse students in real-world patient care, where collaboration across disciplines is key,” Mantella said. “It engages hundreds of health care partners across our community and state in preparing our students and supporting our health care professionals to meet the increasing health care needs and challenges of today."

Daniel and Pamella DeVos were the lead donors for the project. Pamella DeVos said the early planning discussions about DCIH made it clear that the education students would experience in that building would benefit West Michigan residents when GVSU graduates entered the workforce. 

"We recognized early on that partnership and collaboration were essential — not only in creating this facility but also in preparing future health care providers for the real world," said DeVos. "The interprofessional health model taught here fosters teamwork and shared decision-making, just like in professional health care environments. These students are graduating with confidence and the skills they need to make an impact in our community and beyond."

As a Corewell Health West Nurse Scholar, student Raschard France said the GVSU-Corewell Health partnership has helped pay his tuition, placed him with a mentor at the hospital and provided a path to employment. The agreement between the two institutions includes two years of employment at Corewell Health for students who complete the scholarship requirements.

"All the hours spent in this building have helped us develop the clinical skills that are essential to care for patients," France said. "We had access to technology that was implemented at different times during our program. These tools, lessons and clinical assignments all built on each other to create a solid foundation of knowledge as nurses."

Linda Lewandowski, dean of GVSU's Kirkhof College of Nursing, provided a welcome and acknowledged nurse leaders from Corewell Health who played a role in developing the nurse scholar program. 

Lewandowski added innovative, community partnerships such as this program help decrease nursing staffing shortages. "These partnerships, which offer our students so many benefits, also shine a light on the forward-thinking that is a hallmark of this community," she said.