The first dirt is tossed  to mark construction of the Learning and Development Centre – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. –  “Thank you  for being  part of the beginning of the end of this  10 year journey”  those are the words of Dr. David Snadden,former  head of the Northern Medical Program at UNBC, and now  Senior Executive Dean Education UBC Faculty of Medicine as officials gathered to  officially turn the “sod” for the start of construction of the new Learning and Development Centre  for the Northern Medical Program  at the University Hospital of Northern B.C.

For Dr. Snadden, it was  ten years ago that the  University of Northern B.C. was preparing to welcome its first group of students for the Northern Medical  Program.  “I remember we had  lost the keys to the storage locker  in the anatomy class and didn’t know what we were going to do with the students when they arrived .”

The development of the centre was always considered to be a key component to the Northern Medical Program.  Initially   the idea was to have an auditorium of some sort added to the UHNBC, a place where medical students could  have focus learning  within the hospital.

The project that will be built, will be so much more than that. 

( at right, artist's rendering of interior of a   learning space inside the Centre)

The Learning Centre  will be creative, cutting edge, and it’s going to be different because the  people of Northern British Columbia  made it different.  It will be something everyone will want to have” says Dr. Dave Snadden.

A far cry from the old Atco trailer that was on the Hospital grounds,  a leaky, cold  trailer  which was often presented  to  members of the   Provincial Government  as a reminder of a promise to make things better.  Minister of Jobs, Shirley Bond says Dr. Kelly  was relentless “I recall when Dr. Bert Kelly ( of the Northern Medical Society)   projected a  picture of that trailer  beside an image of the  Kelowna centre,  on a big screen  before  500 people and said ‘This is Kelowna,  this is Prince George,  what are you going to do about  it?’  and that was when Pat ( former Cabinet Minister Pat Bell) and I  said we would make a difference.”

( at left, another interior  image)

It will have a library, a video conference and seminar rooms, and be a place for collaboration and team buildin

That is  most  important to 3rd year  northern medical  program  student Bobbi-Jean Batchelor.  She  says when she arrived in Prince George she was welcomed, and  “embraced with a sense of community”  that she had never experienced before and knew she had to be part of it.

She says  the new facility will  make Prince George a first choice for students “It will be a huge asset to the University and to the North.”

The new facility ( full exterior image at right) will cost just under $10 million dollars.