By Cameron Pettrone
Staff Writer
Bonaventure hopes to implement an Allied Health Initiative, expanding its offerings to students.
The year and a half old project needs state approval, said Joseph Zimmer, Bonaventure’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Zimmer hopes to provide Allied health opportunities, such as careers in patient-oriented therapy, to both graduate and undergraduate students.
The Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) defines allied health as a field that, “delivers services involving the identification, evaluation and prevention of diseases and disorders; dietary and nutrition services; and rehabilitation and health systems management.”
According to ASAHP, nearly 60 percent of U. S. healthcare providers work in allied health fields. Bonaventure hopes to contribute to the group, Zimmer said.
Zimmer said he believes that the new program will properly provide undergraduates with the prerequisites they need for graduate work in allied health positions or even other health-related programs.
According to Zimmer, this opportunity came about due to the large number of students interested in pursuing an education in health services.
“Almost 50 percent of ACT takers list health and health-related professions as being in their top five career paths,” Zimmer said. “We have a reputation in health… we are looking to expand that vision and reputation to include our own programming in that area.”
Zimmer hopes this initiative will help put the university on the map regarding health and emphasized the benefits of expanding the school’s offerings.
“We’re hoping to attract some very high-end students to fill these programs,” he said.
Zimmer also explained that southwestern New York needs health care workers. The university is hoping to fill that niche.
He said many of the undergraduate courses for this program already exist at the university and some are yet to be added. However, they have yet to be coalesced to form the new degree.
pettrocj16@bonaventure.edu
