Too many doctors lack the kind of bedside manner that most patients want, according to Dr. Stan Flemming, president of Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.

So when the first class of students arrives this summer at the new College of Osteopathic Medicine in Terrace Heights, part of the training will take place in a simulated medical clinic that looks every bit as real as your doctor's office, from the sliding glass window at the reception counter to the hand wipes in the exam rooms.

Students will interact with live models acting as patients, and their every move and word will be recorded with digital audio and video for immediate feedback.

"This is very unusual for first-year medical students," Flemming said. "But we want to teach them from the start to observe, listen and interact with their patients. That's what patients want."

Flemming is almost giddy as he guides a tour through the nearly completed college, a $20 million, 47,000-square-foot, two-story brick and limestone building with a towering "Great Hall" at the south end that will be available for community events.

Starting with orientation Aug. 4, the inaugural class of students will begin a four-year journey of learning that will offer them the latest in teaching technology in the most modern of medical education settings.

The 75 students and 25 faculty members will also bring the neighborhood of Terrace Heights an economic punch with their demand for retail goods and services, such as late-night pizzas before a big exam.

For now, retail services are limited. But Terrace Heights Development, an arm of Columbia Basin Railroad, which donated $7 million toward the medical college, plans to announce soon a sizable mixed-use development near the college campus to include housing, restaurants, banks, shopping, an office park and additional medical facilities.

"We hope to create more of a destination to Terrace Heights," said Kim Johnson Rath, spokeswoman for Terrace Heights Development. She said the company isn't ready to release details yet.

County planners don't know of any housing projects in the works in Terrace Heights, but Pat Strosahl of United Builders said every builder in the county is eyeing the site, particularly for apartments.

"I think all of us are thinking rental right now because of the mortgage crisis and you can bet that people are closely following the plans of the college and how that might affect their own opportunities," Strosahl said.

The college at one time planned its own student housing, but that development is on hold.

Flemming said students and faculty have found an adequate supply of housing in the Upper Valley. But in two years, projections show demand will outpace supply, he said.

"By the time we meet the third class," he said, "Yakima will be challenged."

All the faculty members have purchased homes. Some parents have invested in single-family residences for their doctor-to-be children. Annual tuition at the private college is $30,000 compared with about $17,400 at the University of Washington, which receives state funds.

Those students are soon to go through one of the most anticipated medical school initiation rituals: their first encounter with human cadavers. The college has a special climate-controlled anatomy lab for 24 preserved bodies that will keep for a year under cool conditions. The air pressure inside the cadaver room is kept high to keep odors from escaping.

Flemming, who has taught at the University of Washington School of Medicine, predicts a few will faint at first sight.

"Somebody always goes down," he said.

A more distinguishing feature of the college will be its osteopathic manipulation classroom. Osteopathic medicine is nearly identical to traditional medical education with the exception of manipulation.

Osteopathic physicians, who have D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) after their names, receive the same medical board certification as M.D.s, and these days practice alongside M.D.s in hospitals and clinics. They can prescribe drugs, for example, and receive post-doctoral training to practice surgery and other specialties.

But while the differences between the two types of medical education have blurred, only osteopathic physicians are trained in the signature therapy of using the hands to diagnose, treat and prevent illness or injury. Manipulative techniques include moving muscles and joints with stretching, gentle pressure and resistance.

In the college's manipulation classroom, students will be able to connect electronically to the anatomy lab -- home of the cadavers -- to watch how the body responds to their technique.

Absent from the classrooms will be chalk and other boards for lectures. Instead, there will be digital "smart boards." As professors write on the boards with digital pens, the notes will be transferred to students' laptops, which are issued with enrollment.

Flemming said anything less than the most advanced technology would hamper the students' learning because they have grown up with all things digital.

"I struggle just to learn the technology," he said, "but if we didn't do it, the students would be totally lost."

Another feature of the building deliberately planned is the size of faculty offices: they are all the same. Flemming said the board wanted to avoid the kind of competition for status that can preoccupy even the highest-level professionals.

"Faculty can get so wrapped around size of office space and view that we decided just to keep them all equal," Flemming said.

That means one window per office.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.