BGSU student health center opens

$5 million Falcon Health Center celebrated

8/21/2013
BY VANESSA McCRAY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Falcon Health Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.
The Falcon Health Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

BOWLING GREEN -- Bowling Green State University and Wood County Hospital today celebrated the opening of a new student health center.

The $5 million Falcon Health Center, financed by the hospital and built on university property, will treat students, faculty, staff, and could, in the future, serve the public, officials said.

“Our first focus is on the university family itself,” said hospital President Stanley Korducki.

The facility, located on the corner of East Wooster Street and South College Drive, showcases school spirit. Some walls and upholstery are a bold orange hue -- one of the university's colors -- and a big mural heralding the university mascots Freddie and Frieda is featured on the second floor.

Views of campus buildings are visible from the windows in a corner stairwell.

The 23,000-square foot building includes exam and procedure rooms, a drive-through pharmacy, and a 65-space parking lot.

BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey said the university didn't have funds to build a new health center on its own. The university estimates it will save about $1.6 million by privatizing its health center operations.

The partnership with the nonprofit Wood County Hospital is an example of the university’s effort to privatize some services. It signed a long-term food-service contract in 2010 with Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services.

A ribbon cutting ceremony, attended by numerous university, hospital, and city officials, took place today. The center began serving patients Monday.