"Would you still describe your pain as a 10?" a Texas A&M University nursing student asked a wreck victim lying on a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV.
Hundreds of officials passed by the exam room, many popping their heads in to observe the man's progress, along with the techniques used by the student.
Both were under the microscope Thursday. Not exactly your typical ER experience.
The man is paid and trained to pretend to have suffered injuries to allow students a chance to practice "real-life" situations at the newly-unveiled Texas A&M Health Science Center in Bryan.
The scores of officials were gathered to take part in a dedication of the center's first two buildings -- which cost about $128 million -- that sit on 200 acres along Texas 47. The property was donated by the city of Bryan, adjacent to Traditions Club Golf Course.
The clinical study being performed by the students was one aspect that elected officials, along with A&M leaders and community members, were able to witness while touring the new facility. Attendees included State Sen. Steve Ogden, State Reps. Fred Brown and Lois Kolkhorst, members of the A&M System Board of Regents, officials with the cities of Bryan and College Station, Blinn College, the Texas Brain and Spine Institute and more.
"This is more than just a university. This is more than just a building. This is the future of Texas, of Texans and specifically for the Brazos Valley," said Michael D. McKinney, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.
Nancy Dickey, president of the Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for the system, said the campus is a part of what's to become a bioresearch corridor. It will establish a leading edge in the biomedical zone that promotes scientific education and research, technology innovation and commercialization, and high technology business development to attract preclinical biomedical research and development alongside biopharmaceutical manufacturing, she said.
"This isn't just a new building for a couple of groups of students. It's not a single department or even a new university. It's the beginning of a new era for the A&M System, the community and the state," she said.
Future development on the acreage will include the Texas Brain and Spine Institute, Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center establishing a new research and treatment center, and Blinn College relocating programs like vocational and associate degree nursing programs, emergency medical services and physical therapist assistant programs.
GreenVax is building on 21 acres of the Bryan campus. The biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative is working toward increasing the nation's capability to produce vaccines for infectious diseases. St. Joseph Health System will have its state-of-the-art imaging center on the Bryan campus, as well.
Bryan City Manager David Watkins told The Eagle that the dedication of the campus -- which will stretch from Texas 47, to F.M. 2818 to Wellborn Road -- is probably one of the "most significant moments or maybe the significant moment" in the city's history. The Bryan campus is projected to have a $1.2 billion economic impact in 2015.
"I know that sounds pretty strong, but it is," Watkins said.
Watkins said retail -- and the money it pours into an economy -- tends to follow jobs, not vice versa, so he wasn't concerned that the Bryan campus is surrounded mostly by trees right now.
"You really have to get the rooftops and the pop up before we start attracting significant retail," he said. "It will happen. It's just a matter of when."
The HSC eventually will consolidate into a single campus, combining its academic programs and administration that's now located throughout Brazos County.
Regents approved the allocation of acreage in December 2006. The first two campus buildings include the $68 million Health Professions Education Building, which was paid for through the Available University Fund from the A&M System, along with the $60 million Medical Research and Education Building funded through $45 million in tuition revenue bonds approved in 2006 by the Texas Legislature. It also includes another $15 million from the Available University Fund.
Students were busy with classes Thursday in the Health Professions building; the Medical Research facility is scheduled for occupancy in the spring 2011.
The 132,500-square-foot, four-story Health Professions building consists of lecture and seminar rooms, capabilities for video conferences, an outdoor courtyard, dining space, student services, an information technology help center, a teaching and learning resource center and a library. The building houses a simulation center with clinical exam rooms and office space for the HSC-College of Medicine and HSC-College of Nursing.
Bryan College Station Chamber of Commerce President Royce Hickman said he thought it was an interesting coincidence that, just a few days prior, the country celebrated the 41st anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon.
"As I prepared my remarks for today, I was not able to get the first words Neil Armstrong spoke from the moon out of my mind," Hickman said. "When I think of the size of this campus today compared to what's it's going to be in the future and when I think about the positive impact on the future health of the citizens of our world because of education and research that is going to occur on this very spot -- surely you will agree that today is, in many ways, one small step for the men and women of the Health Science Center, but truly is one great leap for mankind."
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