Legacy Project: Landsbaum Center for Health Education

The Landsbaum Center for Health Education provides educational facilities to second-year medical students from the Terre Haute Center for Medical Education, Indiana State University College of Nursing students, and resident-physicians in Union Hospital's Family Medicine Residency Program. Located on the Union Hospital campus, this educational center offers unique opportunities for health improvement and team learning through partnership and multidisciplinary education.

The building houses Union Hospital's Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health (formerly Midwest Center for Rural Health or MCRH), the West Central Indiana Area Health Education Center (AHEC), and portions of the Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute, and Indiana State University's College of Nursing.

The center is owned by Indiana University, Indiana State University, and Union Hospital. It brings to fruition the institutions' 30-year vision to train nurses, medical students, and family medicine physicians in a facility that allows sharing of resources. All three programs had outgrown their existing spaces, and modern facilities were necessary to continue to incorporate innovative technology into the programs.

BSA LifeStructures designed the facility with each partner having an equal say throughout the process. The two-story 30,000-square-feet facility includes clinical examination rooms, classrooms, 150-seat lecture hall with state of the art technology for distance learning, student study areas, and staff/faculty offices.

In 1999, the State Legislature provided $2.5 million with an appropriation to the Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute. Union Hospital's Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health received $2.5 million in grant funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). ISU contributed $1.25 million from funds received from the sale of its Nursing Clinical Education Building to Union Hospital. The center was named after Morris Landsbaum, a Terre Haute developer and supporter of educational and medical services who bequeathed approximately $2.7 million for construction and an endowment for continuous technology updates. A number of donors have provided additional funds for the facility and equipment. The total project cost was slightly more than $8 million. The facility was completed with full occupancy in the fall of 2003. A formal building dedication ceremony was held on September 26, 2004.