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Date 3-31-06
Contact Shelia White 228.865.4573
Author Jason Sherwood
Gulf Coast—The
University of Southern Mississippi and the Pinion Research Group
have rolled with Katrina’s punches to stabilize, rebuild and continue
quality education on the coast.
Having reconfigured
25,000 sq. ft. of space in less than six weeks, Pinion is temporarily
providing the newly titled Healthmark Center as leased space to
the university, along with two other tenants until a new permanent
campus can be built.
Three days after
Katrina hit, Pinion founder Richard Hadden, M.D., was worried about
his contractors and their survival. Knowing the conditions of the
university’s Gulf Park campus were poor, Hadden was also ready to
begin reconstruction.
“I was worried
that my contractor hadn’t survived the storm,” Hadden said. “I found
him literally caked in mud four days after Katrina and asked him,
‘Do you want to go back to work?’”
Pinion is a
Southern Miss research foundation company in support of the university’s
mission. Hadden formed the group to build a new school of nursing
facility and gather information in health research, specifically
in hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Mississippi ranks 49th nationally
in those areas, and Pinion hoped to synergize the university’s resources
to educate the population about exercise, nutrition, and community
wellness. Though the university has had all of these resources already,
they were not coordinated toward those specific goals.
Prior to Katrina,
the group had used $1 million of its own funds to construct a 22,000
sq. ft. school of nursing facility centered around the ICU space
at Garden Park’s old hospital to serve as a new clinical skills
lab. However, within three days of the storm, Pinion revamped the
plan to support the devastated university, reconfiguring the necessary
space in the now titled Healthmark Center.
“We pushed hard
for a couple of weeks,” Hadden said. “I literally slept in the building.
I had a generator running, but there was no hot water. It was your
typical camp site atmosphere.”
Congressman
Gene Taylor, the City of Gulfport, Col. Joe Spraggins and the Emergency
Operation Center were quick to aid the efforts, giving priority
to rebuild utilities. Hadden says they were invaluable in the reconstruction
efforts. With their help and a hard working staff, the group had
the building ready, and Southern Miss reopened on the coast for
fall semester six weeks after the storm on October 10.
Now that the
university’s recovery efforts are stabilized, Dr. Hadden says the
Pinion Group will continue pursuing its vision of education, research,
and development. Pinion hopes to partner with local nursing and
community health groups to re-establish their efforts on the coast.
For more information
about the university’s academic programs offered on the Gulf Coast,
call 228.865.4500 or go to www.usm.edu/gulfcoast.
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