Alamo Health Industry Charts Building Boom
Published Mar 05, 2009
Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio is getting a major upgrade.
A building boom is under way that promises to refashion several of the Alamo Area’s hospitals with larger facilities and the latest technologies and treatments.
By 2014, more than $500 million will be spent on capital improvement projects at hospitals serving everyone from children to veterans. The price tag could climb even higher if University Hospital in San Antonio receives upgrades.
Taken together, these changes will bolster the area’s already robust health-care sector at a time of increased population growth for the Alamo Area.
Among those with shovels in the ground is Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, which opened in 1998 as the region’s first pediatric hospital.
The hospital, which offers emergency care, neonatal intensive care and surgery, has already outgrown its space. Although the ER was designed for 12,000 patients a year, five times that number flocks to the hospital.
“Despite this high volume, our staff has maintained high patient and family satisfaction ratings. This is a true testament to the commitment of our nurses, doctors, technicians and support staff to treating each child as if he or she were their very own,” says Mark McLoone, CEO of Methodist Children’s.
The hospital is at work on a new emergency department that will be the largest pediatric ED in the region, with 34 exam rooms spread across 30,000 square feet once construction is completed in mid-2009.
Earlier this decade, Metropolitan Methodist Hospital itself opened a new 16,000-square-foot emergency department. In all, Methodist spent $50 million on the project that also included a new Women’s Pavilion and cardiology department expansion.
Nearby Guadalupe Regional Medical Center in Seguin is undergoing a $100 million expansion and renovation that will double the size of the hospital and update its technology. When this project wraps up in 2010, Guadalupe Regional will have a new three-story inpatient tower that will house maternity services and medical floors.
Additional emergency room beds, inpatient beds and operating suites will be constructed as the hospital grows to 260,000 square feet.
Even the state and federal government are spending heavily in efforts to improve the care at updated facilities. Construction is under way to create a new clinical practice home for the University of Texas Health Science Center.
When completed in summer 2009, the 356,000-square-foot medical arts research center will offer patient care that includes primary care, specialty care, diagnostic therapeutics and interventional services.
The center will operate an electronic medical record system, making appointments easier for patients. Meanwhile, the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, a Veterans Administration facility in San Antonio, is shelling out more than $100 million on a project that will improve inpatient care and rehabilitation while offering transitional housing.
Story by Roy Moore
Photo by Todd Bennett
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