Lamesa Medical Arts Hospital Expands Services
Published Aug 07, 2009
The New Medical Arts Hospital in Lamesa
Even if it’s only a few blocks, moving an entire hospital is no easy task. But when the end result is the new Medical Arts Hospital, the effort is worth it.
“What we found out is that there’s no manual out there to tell you how to move a small, rural hospital,” says Melissa Matlock, director of community relations. “You have to do it your own way, which is why we got a lot of attention throughout the region for our move. People wanted to see how we did it, because it’s a rare opportunity to see all this in action.”
The new, $14 million, 70,000-square-foot facility in Lamesa had been set to open by the end of 2008, but various construction issues pushed that back to May 2009. The delay helped planners cement their strategies, however, so the extra time turned out to be a bonus.
“The moving process for a 50-year-old hospital is very interesting, and it had to be planned with military precision,” Matlock says. “It’s not like moving a house; you can’t stop treating patients and just pack them up. We had to move while simultaneously providing care – it’s like changing a tire while you’re going down the highway at 90 miles per hour.”
The hospital’s steering committee and moving task force rose to the challenge, mapping the move’s timeline down to 30-minute increments so that services remained operational at one building or the other. And in the end, the community was welcomed into a new hospital that offers, among other things, a new 16-slice CT scanner, nuclear medicine, an in-house MRI and more.
“We have some cutting-edge offerings that will make us more complete for our community, and people are very pleased,” Matlock says. “We’ve really seen the excitement level ratcheting up, and people are very eager to get inside and walk around, see all that we have to offer.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Brian McCord
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