Oregon State, Samaritan Health Services looking to partner on campus wellness clinic

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University and Samaritan Health Services leaders announced today that they are engaged in discussions to collaborate on a proposed wellness clinic adjacent to Reser Stadium that would serve OSU students, with additional services available for employees as well as Benton County community members.

The wellness clinic will provide additional space for primary and walk-in/same day care to be offered on campus by Samaritan. The wellness clinic is part of a $153 million proposed project that would fully renovate the west side of Reser Stadium and would include construction of a welcome center within the southwest side of the stadium for prospective new students and their families.

The OSU Board of Trustees will review the project during its meetings on May 20 and 21 and consider advancing the project to the construction phase.

“The wellness clinic and collaboration with Samaritan Health Services will greatly enhance OSU’s ability to offer high-quality health care services to students and enable services to be readily available on our Corvallis campus for faculty and staff,” said OSU Interim President Becky Johnson. “This collaboration importantly will also help expand access to wellness services for the greater Corvallis area community.”

As proposed, the 32,000-square-foot wellness clinic would be four stories, with OSU and Samaritan sharing the first floor; Samaritan leasing the second floor for primary care and walk-in/same-day care facilities; and OSU Student Health Services occupying the building’s third and fourth floors.

Student Health Services is currently located in Plageman Hall, which dates back to the 1930s and is not in an optimal location for accessibly serving students, according to university officials. Plageman Hall is located a long distance from most on-campus residence halls, and cannot be easily reconfigured to serve as a modern health center.

“This proposed project and collaboration with Samaritan Health Services addresses current and identified future needs on the Corvallis campus by offering a modern facility designed to provide more integrated health care,” said Dan Larson, OSU’s vice provost for student affairs. “It will create a campus hub for health and wellness services, serving students, OSU employees and the greater community.”

Samaritan and the university are in discussions for Samaritan to lease 9,000 to 10,000 square feet in the new wellness clinic. OSU’s Student Health Services will remain the primary health and wellness service provider for OSU students.

“This project provides a unique opportunity for us to co-locate services that complement and enhance what’s currently available on campus,” said Doug Boysen, Samaritan’s president/chief executive officer. “The clinic’s convenient location near Reser Stadium will also provide an additional health care option for the general community.”

In addition to providing health services, Samaritan and university officials are discussing concepts for collaborative health-related student internships and research. Samaritan currently leases space on campus for its Samaritan Athletic Medicine facility, which is located near Reser Stadium.

Larson said the cost of constructing the proposed wellness clinic would be funded by existing student fees, insurance billings and leasing revenue from Samaritan, and could contribute to reducing future pressure to increase student fees for wellness services.

Once vacated, Plageman Hall would be renovated and repurposed for academic and research purposes.