Idaho’s first medical college is set to host its inaugural class this fall.
The ICOM building, located in Meridian is currently being built and is ahead of schedule and under budget. While they were drawing up concepts for the new state of the of the art building, they said a lot of time and energy went into designing a building that would be safe for all students.
When up to 162 future doctors step through the doors of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, they will be stepping into a highly controlled secure environment.
"We designed ICOM from the ground up with safety and security in mind,” said Dr. Robert Hasty, ICOM’s dean.
Dr. Hasty said they designed the building to include some of the most high tech safety equipment which starts with a single point of entry.
“We will have a security desk here which will be staffed by our security officers as well as reception,” said Dr. Hasty.
From there, 64 cameras will be placed around the building. The cameras even have a feature called suspect mode so in case they do have an issue they can target in on a specific suspect, even zoom in on their face and the cameras can track them as they move throughout the building.
“So even going from camera to camera to camera it will be seamless,” said Dr. Hasty. “We can actually download it to a USB and hand it to police officers.”
They will also have an active shooter button where they can press it and lock the outside doors, and then send out an alert to students devices and broadcast a message through the PA system.
The dean said a medical school is a very high profile educational institution and thus a reason why safety of all is seen as a top priority.
"ICOM is truly designed to be the medical school of the future,” said Dr. Hasty.
Administrators with the college will be moving into the new building later this summer.
They will be holding an official ribbon cutting ceremony on September 5th.
