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In a Connections article last year announcing plans for Nazareth鈥檚 Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute, the institute was described in theory as a hothouse where patient-centered care would bloom. Now that facility is a reality鈥攈aving celebrated with a grand-opening ceremony on September 18鈥攁nd the blossoms are everywhere.

鈥淭he students are ecstatic, and that enthusiasm is spreading to their clients,鈥� says Shirley Szekeres, Ph.D., the institute鈥檚 director and former dean of the School of Health and Human Services (SHHS). 鈥淓veryone is so excited about this new environment, and what we can do now that we couldn鈥檛 before.鈥�

At the opening ceremony, the facility鈥檚 official name was also announced: the York Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute, named for the York family and paying tribute to the family鈥檚 contributions to health care that have spanned four generations and more than a century, as well as Frank York, a Nazareth trustee, who was actively involved in the visioning and planning of this innovative institute and the building鈥檚 renovation and expansion.

鈥淗e was involved right from the beginning, helping to make sure the building plans would fit our vision,鈥� Szekeres recalls. 鈥淚鈥檓 so thrilled that he agreed to let us name this for his family.鈥�

The 66,700-square-foot York Institute provides a central home on the Nazareth campus for an array of SHHS disciplines that train future clinical professionals while providing much-needed services to clients in the community.

Alone, these disciplines鈥攕peech pathology, physical and occupational therapy, art and music therapy, and more鈥攄eliver profound benefits to clients. But within the institute鈥檚 collaborative environment, student practitioners are encouraged to find ways to meld the disciplines to create solutions that amount to much more than the sum of their parts.

Emphasizing interprofessional education helps students focus less on mastery of a single discipline and more on patient outcomes, Szekeres says. Along with their traditional classroom and clinical training, SHHS students are encouraged to think creatively about ways to combine their disciplines for the good of their patients.

And ideas are already filling the corridors of the institute鈥攊ncluding one example that鈥檚 already in the works.

鈥淲e have a lot of talent among our clients鈥攖here are musicians and poets, for example鈥攁nd our brain injury clinic has tried to showcase that talent in the past, but it鈥檚 been a challenge,鈥� Szekeres says. 鈥淣ow the students are going to use the [institute鈥檚] lobby as an area where the clients can perform in their areas of expertise.鈥� Clinical work during the semester will align with the goal of preparing these client performers for their lobby debut.

Next summer, the York Institute will be the center of an even bigger event: an international conference, Innovations in Interprofessional Collaboration: Individual, Community, and Global Engagement, set for June 16鈥�18, 2016. The event, planned by SHHS faculty, aims to bring wellness professionals from around the world to the Nazareth campus鈥攁nd it will be interprofessional in spirit as well as in name.

鈥淲e want to encourage dialogues and discussions, so everyone who attends will get a true sense of the rich experience that comes from real collaboration,鈥� says Szekeres. 鈥淭his is the kind of thing we always wanted to happen, but we never had the opportunity to put it all together before.鈥�

Erich Van Dussen is a freelance writer in Rochester, New York.