ACHE receives $32M gift to promote health and wellness

The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education (ACHE) received a $32.3 million anonymous gift to fund a health-and-wellness initiative in Fort Smith and surrounding areas.

“This tremendous, anonymous gift will help ACHE continue to fulfill its mission at a much faster pace,” CEO Kyle Parker said. “We are not just studying problems; we are creating solutions.”

Plans are in place for how this donation will be used at ACHE. Renovations are already underway on the ACHE Research Institute Health and Wellness Center (RI/HWC) in Fort Smith and should be completed by December 2022. The updated facility will offer health-professions and scientific-community students opportunities in a variety of disciplines while allowing other institutions to take part in inter-professional education combining the arts with clinical intervention and discovery research to promote health and wellness in the community.

Parker said the first floor of the center comprising more than 60,000 square feet and another 15,000 square feet outside will be converted into a new health-and-wellness center that will house a community art gallery and more. It also will include space for art instruction for students and the community; an artist-in-residence program; applied arts where occupational- and physical-therapy students can create and produce adaptive devices using a 3-D printer; a ceramics lab with kiln to improve hand and eye coordination and art creation; and a performing arts theatre for productions and dance.

Read more: https://armoneyandpolitics.com/ache-receives-32m-gift-to-promote-health-and-wellness/