SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- $10 million dollars is the start toward curing Springfield's lack of a medical school.
State lawmakers have approved that money, though the bill still needs approval from the governor.
"A seeds been planted and I think if that seed is nurtured and grows it will be the biggest economic impact to our region in decades," said Cox Health CEO and President Steve Edwards.
The seed is a metaphor, 32 juniors and 32 seniors from the MU School of Medicine would relocate to Springfield for their final two years.
"It's not an overwhelming number of students, it's not like we're adding 500 students," said Edwards, "so it's a great first step as we look forward to a four year medical school in Springfield some day."
For now its a satellite campus that would allow MU's School of Medicine to expand its yearly acceptance from 96 to 128 students. An increase Cox Health president and CEO Mark Edwards thinks will have a lasting impact. As Mercy Senior Vice President, Michele Shaefer calls it, home grown.
"The university of Missouri has been known to keep students in Missouri," said Mercy VP Michele Shaefer. "If no those students don't get in they go somewhere else and they leave the state. If they leave they tend not to come back so people practice where they train and we want them to train here," said Edwards.
Now if approved by the governor that $10 million will help jump start the school in Springfield while students will do their clinical at Mercy and Cox hospitals but an additional $30 million dollars will still need to be raised for the classrooms in Columbia.
"They are at capacity for the number of students they can currently take," said Shaefer.
"Really not necessary for a building in Springfield because 3rd and 4th year medical school students are in their clinical time so they spend time in the hospital," said Edwards.
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