Lake Washington Institute of Technology celebrated the grand opening of the school’s new state-of-the-art Allied Health Building Sept. 14.

The $35 million facility, which broke ground in October of 2009, was funded through a partnership between LWIT ($26 million) and the Washington Network for Innovative Careers (WaNIC) ($9 million), a consortium of seven K-12 school districts – including Bellevue – that offer high school students the opportunity to take college-level courses. The new 83,000-square-foot, three-story building features classrooms, laboratories, offices, clinical facilities and a lecture hall that will be a major boon to allied health studies.

“We are gathered in one of the state’s most technologically advanced, cutting-edge polytechnic education buildings here at Lake Washington,” said Dr. David Woodall, LWIT interim president.

He noted that the new classrooms and laboratories simulate actual hospital settings and will provide the backdrop for training that will help meet the regional demand for nursing and allied health employees.

LWIT offers allied health programs in nursing, medical assisting, dental assisting, dental hygiene, massage, physical therapist assisting, occupational therapy assisting and funeral service education (the first in Washington state), serving more than 350 full-time students annually.

Kirkland Reporter Editor Carrie Wood can be reached at editor@kirklandreporter.com or 425.822.9166 ext 5050.