People arrive for the blessing and dedication ceremony for King’s College’s new Frank and Carolyn Kowalski Center for Advanced Healthcare Education, a more than $8 million redevelopment project of the former Times Leader building, on Friday morning.
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It is no secret that local newspapers have struggled for more than a decade as the internet and social media reshape the market. We are proud to have survived so many tectonic shifts in how we do our work, and we are deeply concerned about the impact on the region and the nation caused by the decline of local watchdog outlets, but that’s for another editorial.
This missive is about the remarkable revitalization of this particular paper’s venerable former headquarters on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, and how glad we are to see it find new purpose for the region, both now and in the long-term future. On Friday, King’s College not only cut the ribbon for a new facility for health care education, it also showed off the home of its first doctoral program.
Talk about transformative! A word, incidentally, that rightly popped up in various forms during the unveiling ceremony.
“This building will create unforgettable learning experiences for a new generation of health care workers and help revitalize Wilkes-Barre by bringing more students, faculty and staff downtown,” King’s College President Rev. Thomas Looney said of the more than $8 million project that created the Frank and Carolyn Kowalski Center for Advanced Healthcare Education.
The facility once held a large printing press in a two-level basement, a massive news operation filling several floors, and a film development dark room entered through a black cylindrical passage with a rotating segment that sealed off one side while opening the other — we can almost hear many people asking “Film development? Dark room?”
Old timers will talk of typewriters and “copy boys,” of an incessantly clacking Associated Press Teletype machine that required its own room to dampen the noise, and of police scanners chattering away in the background with someone always keeping one ear on the output, listening for the big emergencies that merited sending out a reporter and photographer.
Now, that same building boasts state-of-the-art medical training equipment for both the Doctorate in Occupational Therapy program and the new accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. There are labs for pediatric, physical rehab, daily living and cadaver education, including augmented reality technology, 3D imaging and printing, and other cutting-edge education tools.
“The new lab spaces are designed to prepare elite occupational therapists, nurses and other health care professionals who can meet the growing physical and mental health care needs of Luzerne County and beyond, including improving childhood development rates and alleviating occupational challenges for adults, elderly, and people with disabilities — especially those in under-served and disadvantaged populations,” Dean of Health Sciences Christopher O’Brien said.
Looney referred to transforming the building “from a sacred place of journalism and sharing the news of the community to a sacred place where learning about healing and bringing life and hope to people.”
Those of us still with the TL who cut their newshound teeth in the centrally-located building were sad to leave it behind and concerned as it seemed to sit idle for so long. But we are deeply heartened by this rebirth. It continues a legacy of community service in a new and valuable way.