James Cook University’s $60 million Yeinie Building. Photo: JCU.
A new high-tech $60 million medical training and research facility has been shaping the next generation of healthcare workers in Far North Queensland.
James Cook University (JCU) has officially opened the four-storey Yeinie Building in Cairns, which was fully funded by the Federal Government.
It’s expected the facility – which has already been training students for a year – will improve outcomes across the region, which faces considerable healthcare challenges, especially in isolated and remote areas such as Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait.
Cape and Torres Strait communities experience substantially higher rates of preventable conditions such as diabetes, kidney and heart disease.
JCU vice-chancellor and president Professor Simon Biggs said: “It’s important we recognise how important the role the Yeinie Building will play in training the next generation of healthcare workers – from nurses to doctors and midwives – that will treat patients in northern Australia and the tropics.”
JCU Professor Simon Biggs speaks at the opening of the Yeinie Building medical training and research facility. Photo: JCU.
“The Yeinie Building is the result of a transformative $60 million investment by the Commonwealth Government — an investment in the health of the north and in the people who will shape its future,” he said.
“It’s also important to acknowledge the efforts of the Commonwealth Government, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, traditional owners and all our project partners for helping bring this state-of-the-art facility to life.”
Medicine and nursing students are trained in the building, which is co-located in the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS).
Midwifery students will soon use the Cairns Health and Innovation Precinct building too, creating a multidisciplinary environment meant to reflect the realities of modern healthcare.
JCU Professor Simon Biggs, Professor Henrietta Marrie AM, Leichhardt MP Matt Smith, Cairns Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive Leena Singh and JCU Chancellor Ngiare Brown. Photo: JCU.
“Here, students, clinicians, researchers and industry partners will work side by side — learning from each other, collaborating and ultimately improving health outcomes for communities across Far North Queensland and the tropics,” Professor Biggs said.
“It is a place where academic and practical learning converge. Where the next generation of healthcare professionals will be shaped not only by knowledge, but by experience, collaboration and purpose.”
The name of the facility, Yeinie, was suggested by Gimuy Walubarra Yidinji elder Professor Henrietta Marrie AM and her people, and honours an ancestor and warrior.
Professor Biggs said: “At JCU, we have always believed that where you train shapes how you serve.”
“By embedding our students in the communities they will go on to support, we strengthen both our workforce and our impact,” he said.
“The impact of what happens here will extend far beyond these walls — into hospitals, clinics, communities and lives across the tropics.”
The building includes multipurpose and specialised clinical teaching rooms, lecture spaces, desks for 50 staff, a two-bed ward for clinical skills demonstrations, as well as a 10-bed hospital ward.
Professor Biggs and JCU Chancellor Ngiare Brown met with Leichhardt MP Matt Smith, CHHHS chief executive Leena Singh and Professor Marrie during an opening celebration with university staff, students and other guests on 16 July.
Inside James Cook University’s $60 million medical training and research centre, the Yeinie Building. Photo: Advance Cairns Facebook.
Original Article published by Luke Mortimer on Region Tropical North Queensland.
