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Dr. Steve Head, Lone Star College chancellor, addressed the crowd at the LSC-Kingwood Health Professions Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony on Feb. 22.

Dr. Melissa Gonzalez, Lone Star College-Kingwood president, received a congressional certificate of recognition from Garrett Auzenne, a senior advisor for U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Lone Star College-Kingwood held a dedication ceremony for its new Health Professions Center on Feb. 22. Cutting the ribbon, from left, are David Baty, LSC-Kingwood vice president of instruction; Dr. Jim Cain, LSC board of trustee member; Myriam Saldivar, LSC board of trustee chair; Dr. Steve Head, LSC chancellor; Dr. Melissa Gonzalez, LSC-Kingwood president; Mike Sullivan, LSC board of trustee assistant secretary; Dr. Ryan Chabarria, LSC-Kingwood interim dean of health occupations and biological sciences; and Garrett Auzenne, senior advisor for U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Lone Star College, AutoArch Architects, and Tellepsen Builders personnel dedicated LSC-Kingwood’s new Health Professions Center on Feb. 22. Participants, from left, are Pat Pollard, Tellepsen account vice president; Nedwan Winters, Tellepsen project manager; Terry Hargus, Tellepsen senior vice president; Dr. Steve Head, LSC chancellor; Dr. Melissa Gonzalez, LSC-Kingwood president; Lina Sabouni, AutoArch co-founder; Brian Anderson, AutoArch principal; Farrah Sabouni, AutoArch principal; Michael Sabouni, AutoArch co-founder; Denise Neu, LSC associate vice chancellor of facilities and construction; and Chad Huff, LSC executive director of facilities and construction.

A gathering of Lone Star College-Kingwood friends, supporters and school personnel celebrated the opening of the new Health Professions Center on campus last Tuesday.

The $18.8 million facility, just east of the Student Conference Center, will house general classrooms and program-specific spaces related to health science.

Construction began in Spring of 2020 by contractor Tellepsen Builders and was designed by AUTOARCH Architects, LLC. Construction of the $18.8 million facility was completed in the fall of 2021.

Inside the 49,440 square-foot building is a combined classroom and lab with four dental chairs for dental assisting students. Dental hygiene students will enjoy a 24-chair dental clinic, sterilization room, radiology room, and a multipurpose simulation and dental materials lab.

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Nursing students will enjoy two skills labs with 11 hospital beds each, a state-of-the-art simulation room with eight medical surgical areas, three ICU areas, one home health room, one labor and delivery room, and a student debriefing room.

Occupational therapy assistants are provided a life-skills teaching lab, patient environment lab, and a rehab gym.

Respiratory care students have two skills labs, two-bed simulation areas with a control room, a virtual lab, and a cardiopulmonary lab.

The addition to the campus comes at a critical time in the area as the pandemic has exacerbated the shortage of medical students and increased growth in outlying facilities continue to grow. The need for nurses has also been increased dramatically with the push by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). According to everynurse.org, a BSN nurse can earn $70,000 starting pay with an average of $82,000 and are among the top earners in their profession.

David Taylor is the reporter/photographer for Houston Community Newspapers / Houston Chronicle and writes news, sports and investigative pieces. He is a member of the Texas Press Association and has won numerous state awards.

He attended Rice University and the University of Houston and has led the news rooms of several newspapers including The Sentinel Newspapers, The Pasadena Citizen, The Examiner Newspapers, and The Observer Group.

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