Little Rock, Ark.-based Baptist Health and Mercy Fort Smith said Feb. 9 they will invest $1 million in a healthcare sciences innovation center for students in the Fort Smith, Ark., area.
With the funding, Peak Innovation Center will expand programming, add square footage and purchase new equipment. The healthcare sciences wing will also be updated to include a simulation laboratory with a testing room, three classrooms, a responsive medicine classroom and collaborative laboratory spaces.
Peak Innovation Center will offer concurrent credit training programs for high school students in practical nursing and responsive medicine. The programs, which are taught through the center's partnership with the Western Arkansas Technical Center at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, will begin in August. Peak Innovation Center also offers training programs for adults and incumbent workers on nights and weekends.