Hospitals Serving Rural Areas Offer Quality Care
Published Sep 15, 2008
When it comes to health care, rural communities in The High Ground are starting to look like their big-city cousins.
In Lamesa, the new, $14 million, 70,000-square-foot Medical Arts Hospital is scheduled to open by the end of 2008.
“As construction has progressed, the excitement has grown exponentially,” says Melissa Matlock, the hospital’s director of community relations. “This is a wonderful reward for our staff and our community.”
The new building, Matlock says, will reflect the new era in hospital equipment.
“The surgical suites, for example, were designed from the ground up to accommodate the latest and greatest in technology,” she says. “They are extra large, and we looked to the surgeons to tell us what they needed. Our lab and X-ray areas are also much larger.”
Matlock says the decision to build the hospital coincided with a construction boom in the area – a true boost for the local economy.
“Health care in our town is largely a community service,” Matlock says. “We want to have the best quality so we can take care of our own.”
Smaller projects are having a big impact in rural areas as well.
In Muleshoe, Park View Nursing Care Center is becoming the first nursing home in Texas to offer in-house dialysis service.
The colonial-style building, which is part of the Muleshoe Area Hospital District, was built in 2002 and houses 58 residents. Park View Nursing Care Center is supported by four local physicians and offers services such as in-house physical therapy.
Administrator Sandy Sandlin says an independent vendor has leased space at Park View and will be administering the dialysis program.
Sandlin estimates that 25 Bailey County residents currently travel to Lubbock three times a week for dialysis treatments. He previously had turned away two dialysis-dependent potential residents after discussing with them and their families the wear and tear of a 12-hour day to make that trip.
He is optimistic that these two individuals now will choose to live at Park View.
“There’s a great need in these rural areas for people to have dialysis services,” Sandlin says.
“I get calls nearly every other day, with people asking how [the construction is] going.”
Meanwhile, medical centers in The High Ground’s largest cities – Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa – continue their commitment to providing top-quality care.
In Odessa, for example, Medical Center Hospital is embarking on a $10.7 million renovation and expansion project for its operating rooms. And the Odessa Heart Institute has a new Philips Brilliance 64-slice CT scanner that provides a highly detailed picture of the cardiovascular system. Odessa Regional Medical Center also offers 64-slice CT imaging.
Story by Leanne Libby
Photo by Courtesy of Rens van Mierlo
Current Weather Conditions In Stratford, TX (79084)
Clear, and 34 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
