When homeschooled high school junior Elliana Johnston was looking for an in-person, learning opportunity beyond her laptop, her guidance counselor sent her to the site of a former hospital in Pittsburgh.
The Bellevue General Hospital facility was on the brink of shutting down in 2020. Instead, of shuttering completely, it transformed from just a health care facility to a health organization called Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Suburban, one that sees itself as an economic engine in the community.
In addition to continuing to provide health care, the building also is home to more than a dozen science-related start-ups. That’s where Johnston got her first look into an industry she didn’t know much about: robotics.
“I think it was definitely eye opening to realize that there’s so much more than just the basic things that people want you to do, like a lawyer or a doctor,” says Johnston. “You can have so many different responsibilities and jobs within robotics.”
Community Health Care Is Just the Start
“Health care is fixing broken bodies. It’s too expensive, it’s all true,” says Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, former hospital president and current Chief Physician Executive of Community Health and Innovation at AHN. “Health is about, ‘I get the right to pick what I’m going to do and where I’m going to fit in the first world economic system.’”

He describes his role at AHN as “creating a model to breathe new life into closed core community institutions and physical assets to support community needs and drive economic growth.”
Cohen’s goal wasn’t to just repurpose the building, but to rebuild the community. With eight acres and 220,000 square feet to consider, urgent care and some outpatient clinic services remain. Additionally, there are labs, meeting rooms, and large gathering space.
The first big cluster of use for these spaces was as an incubator for science-related start-ups.
Eighteen companies were part of the first cohort, including:
- a pharmaceutical company,
- a software company that fits face masks for sleep apnea,
- a company that makes biodegradable pill cases,
- a company that creates seating for people with spinal defects,
- a clothing company for kids with central lines (intravenous catheters that help deliver treatments),
- and a workforce development program.
That workforce development program was Bots IQ by the Pittsburgh Chapter National Tooling & Machining Foundation. It’s designed to nurture youths’ interests in manufacturing and STEM careers. It was where Johnston spent 10 weeks in a hands-on internship.
“I learned a lot of coding and problem solving within the software, but we also built a lot of robots and did a lot of soldering. We taught [elementary school-age] kids how to build robots and other stuff. It was a lot of different components,” Johnston says.

Community Health Care, Education, and Workforce Development in One Place
The superintendent of Northgate School District noticed when changes started happening at the former hospital site. And so did her students.
“I was talking of a group of kids and said to them, ‘Do you know about Suburban? Do you know what’s happening?’ And they said, ‘You know, we noticed that that parking lot used to be empty, and now there’s a bunch of nice cars there,’” says Dr. Caroline Johns, Northgate superintendent.
“What I see in Suburban is that coming together of education and health care and workforce development in one place that really services the community. I have not seen that somewhere else.”

AHN has now become an academic extension to Northgate High School – a satellite campus, of sorts, for career exploration and workforce training. Students can have a modified block schedule so they can take classes there.
For example: the Catapult Culinary kitchen provides culinary classes, and trains chefs of color how to run a business. At the fitness center, students can learn about physical therapy or work with a researcher investigating the effects of weight training on breast cancer patients. A greenhouse on property grows 200 heads of lettuce a week and is a part of a hands-on horticultural program.
The arrangement at AHN Suburban expanded to working with local Chambers of Commerce and opportunities outside of the facility’s campus. Northgate High senior and aspiring journalist Olivia Rajakovic landed an internship with Saturday Light Brigade Radio.
“At Northgate, we don’t have a ton of extracurriculars, so it’s really great to try things that aren’t offered in our small high school. Touring a lot of colleges this summer, just mentioning that I’m doing an internship in the field that I want to pursue, I’ve had so many guidance counselors and colleges be so shocked that people are even doing high school internships.
“[They] said that it’s going to really stick out on my application. So, that adds a lot of confidence,” Rajakovic says.
Career Exploration Is a Community Asset
Rajakovic’s internship may solidify her intention to study journalism, but Johnston’s experience actually helped her realize that she’s not interested in pursuing robotics as a career. Still, she says has no regrets because it showed her that she has options.
“If there was another internship, no matter what it was, I would probably take the opportunity, because of the all the people you get to meet and the experiences you get to have, to show you, to point you in the direction of something that you would actually enjoy. So even though robotics wasn’t something I liked, there was a lot of parts of it that I did like that I could do individually,” Johnston says.
Dr. Johns calls AHN Suburban a “vibrant community asset.” The Northgate School District credits their collaboration with AHN Suburban for significant positive changes in their student body: the reading proficiency for third graders has soared from 30% to 80% and the graduation rate is up 11%.

“When (students) come through the (graduation) balloon arch, the pathways we’re hearing are really exciting. We’re just hearing kids who have plans now, and it’s clear that they have a sense of direction and a passion for where they’re going. And so that’s exciting,” she says.
“There’s always going to be people left behind,” Cohen adds. “If the wealth of a nation is based on the productivity of all the citizens, why do we allow this? Why don’t we give people the opportunity that want, the opportunity a chance to get out, not the craziness that you hear all the politicians talk about, but how do you really do this? And watching that is really a lot of fun.
“So, these kids who come in are like, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Stop giving me excuses. Get your butt in there. Go do this, okay? And you know, they start. You’re changing these people’s lives.”