Premier Horgan breaks ground on new building for TRU nursing program

KAMLOOPS – Students in the nursing and healthcare assistant programs will have a new building for their studies by January 2020.

B.C. Premier John Horgan was in Kamloops today, April 4, for a groundbreaking ceremony at Thompson Rivers University. The project was announced a year ago.

TRU faculty and students gathered at the campus to learn details of the $37.2 million project, which will feature more direct opportunities for students in the classroom, according to a B.C. government media release.

“The new facility will prepare our next generation of healthcare professionals,” Horgan says in a press release. “This new nursing building will give students more opportunities for hands-on learning, so they can finish their education and walk on the job.”

At the moment, there are more than 46,000 job openings for registered nurses, practical nurses, and healthcare assistants, the release states.

Currently, the university’s School of Nursing program shares a building with the Faculty of Science at the Ken Lepin building, but since both faculties are growing, the building no longer meets the needs of the changing program.

The new Nursing and Population Health Building will feature up to date technology, labs, health clinics and reflect real-world healthcare settings.

Construction for the new building is expected to begin later this month and be completed by 2019.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.