MISSOULA – A Missoula hospital plans to donate land for a new building to help train nurses.
Community Medical Center (CMC) has signed a letter of intent to donate land where a new nursing education building will be built. The facility will be built using part of a $101 million investment that philanthropists Mark and Robyn Jones made to Montana State University (MSU).
“Community Medical Center is all about making communities healthier. There are many ways to accomplish this, and partnering with MSU’s nursing college will improve the health and wellness of our community today and well into the future,” said CMC CEO Bob Gomes.
Mark and Robyn Jones announced in 2021 a philanthropic investment of $101 million to MSU for the construction of new, larger, state-of-the-art educational facilities on the five campuses of its nursing college in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula.
The investment will allow MSU to have university-owned facilities in Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula, which will replace the currently leased facilities, according to a news release.
MSU’s nursing college — the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing — offers baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral programs for nursing students.
However, the nursing college hasn’t been able to significantly increase its number of graduates due to limited space. The release notes MSU now aims to fill the state’s projected shortfall of nurses by 2030 thanks to the new buildings.
“Montana State University’s Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing relies on our trusted partners across the state, like Community Medical Center, to help fulfill our mission of providing important clinical training for our nursing students,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “We are extremely grateful to Community Medical Center for its generous donation and continued partnership.”
CMC will provide land located on Fort Missoula Road, adjacent to the hospital campus, for the new 20,000-square-foot nursing education building.
Mark and Robyn Jones are the founders of Goosehead Insurance Inc., which has offices across the nation. The couple has a home in Whitefish.
The CMC land donation will go before the Montana Board of Regents of the Montana University System for approval.
The release notes MSU is the largest producer of registered nurses in Montana and is the sole provider of doctoral nurse practitioner education in the state. More information is available at montana.edu/nursing.
