Medical officials from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing will visit Grand Rapids June 14-18 to sign partnership papers and tour Kent and Ottawa county hospitals and Grand Valley's campuses.
Jane Toot, dean of Grand Valley's College of Health Professions, said GVSU and the Beijing hospital have had an exchange agreement since 2003.
Adding St. Mary's, and specifically the Peter M. Wege Center for Health and Learning, adds a clinical site for learning more about acupuncture and other treatments.
"In China, doctors see acupuncture as a part of their health care provision," she said. "They see it as a preventative component of treatment."
The China-Japan Friendship Hospital is the teaching hospital of Beijing Medical University. It serves more than 20,000 patients annually including 3,000 outpatients daily.
The Chinese delegation is scheduled to tour St. Mary's, North Ottawa Community Hospital (Grand Haven) and Spectrum hospitals. They will tour Grand Valley campuses on Thursday, June 16, including stopping at the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, beginning at 9 a.m., where students and faculty in the health professions will give demonstrations. (Media members are welcome to cover this tour.)
Also on Thursday the delegation will ride aboard the W.G. Jackson, Grand Valley's research vessel in Muskegon, from 2-4 p.m.
For specifics on tour dates and times, call the News and Information Services Office at 616-331-2221.
