The UNM Finance and Facilities Committee approved a $5.5 million health clinic on Albuquerque’s West Side during their meeting Friday.
The committee, chaired by Don Chalmers, also approved funding requests for several major additions to the UNM Hospital.
The committee discussed the need for a new health care facility at Central Avenue and Unser Boulevard to accommodate the residents in the nearby neighborhood.
It will cost $5.5 million and have 21 exam rooms.
Paul Roth, committee member and executive vice president for the Health Sciences Center, said UNM hospital needs additional facilities, because there is a shortage of health care providers in the area.
“We are always on top of the supply side of the equation. We know that — we get into the topic of work-force shortage,” he said. “We have a shortage in literally
every area of health care and nursing and pharmacy … We are at least 300 beds short and we are short in every area of health care.”
The clinic is expected to run a net loss for UNM every year after it’s built, but the Regents said the public service it will provide is more valuable than the money lost.
Committee Vice Chair Jamie Koch said UNM Hospital has to be careful to balance its commitments to the public with its need for funding.
“We’re not a profit hospital,” he said. “But we’re not funded as a public hospital. The public kind of thinks we are.”
He said UNM has to take into account the money lost on building the new facility.
The committee approved several other hospital additions, including an $880,000 renovation of a critical-care wing built in 1984.
The committee also designated $856,000 to build additions to the orthopedic clinic on the first floor of UNM Hospital.
The Student Family Housing Units on south campus will also be renovated. The committee approved $300,000 for new pavement for the units and $450,000 to replace the roofs on the buildings.
UNM Finance and Facilities
Committee approved:
Critical-care wing renovation: $880,000
Student family housing
maintenance: $750,000
Orthopedic clinic additions: $856,000
West Side clinic: $5.5 million
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