SMCH Construction Under Way

by: Herb Dyer, Vice President of Business Development

Construction is now underway to help establish Seton’s presence in south Central Texas. Once complete, Seton Medical Center Hays will serve one of the fastest growing areas in the region. As a matter of fact, Kyle, where SMCH is being built, is the fifth fastest-growing city in Texas.

But, with all of that growth also comes increased demand for services – including healthcare.

As the leading provider of healthcare services in Central Texas, Seton is stepping up to ensure that this booming area has access to a full range of medical, surgical, diagnostic and maternity services.

In addition, in some clinical areas, the plan is to provide a level of care that is currently unavailable to Hays County residents. Consider that currently, some 58 percent of area residents have to travel outside of their community to receive inpatient care.

The newly provided services will include:

Cardiac (including open heart surgery and stroke center),
Digestive care (including major digestive surgical procedures),
A Level II neonatal nursery to support maternity services,
A full range of urology services,
Imaging services (including MRI, CT and special procedures capabilities), and
A complete range of orthopedic services, except for trauma.

Last month, we opened our temporary administrative office, just about a mile away from the construction site. In addition, early this month, we will host an official ground blessing event. Building construction on Seton’s new 307,000 square foot facility is expected to be complete around July 2009.

The doors to SMCH are slated to open in late 2009 with 144 beds (112 licensed/32 shelled) and the capacity to grow to 210 beds by 2020.

We’re very excited to be moving forward with this much-needed facility and will provide additional details as work progresses.