AUSTIN, Texas — Monday will mark a massive day for health care in Austin and Central Texas.
Texas Children’s Hospital is opening its first Austin hospital, with outpatient care and full service and operations slated to start on Feb. 20.
U.S. News and World Report rates the hospital as the best in Texas and the third in the nation for pediatric care.
The nearly $500 million facility located near North Lake Creek Parkway will house not only ER services but also an urgent care and a women’s unit.
These additions will now allow mothers to actually be with their newborns in the NICU if needed, as well as allow for smaller tasks to be done on site in the urgent care.
Russ Williams, the vice president of the North Austin campus, said it will localize care for thousands of children across the area.
"There were honestly too many kids having to leave Central Texas to get the care that they need. And so, Texas children saw the opportunity. We saw the issue. We run towards problems," Williams said. "So, it was an amazing opportunity for us to come bring the number one children's hospital in Texas and be able to keep children and women in Central Texas for the care that they need."
The hospital will have 52 total beds, an attached urgent care and women’s facility, with room to expand those facilities on site in the future.
"Literally on the same floor, a woman can come in and give birth if that baby needs to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit. It's literally across the hall. I mean, it could not be closer to be able to make sure mom gets everything she needs," Williams said.
Texas Children’s Hospital CEO Mark Wallace said they have seen thousands of kids from the Austin area coming to Houston, and that this new hospital will bring them back home.
"There's so many Austin patients already being cared for in the medical center. And so, that's going to be seamless. There's got to be a well thought out transition. And we know how to do that," Wallace said.
The campus also includes ambulances with life support features, which will allow potentially life-saving care to begin and be coordinated with surgeons when patients are picked up.
Officials say it was important to keep an Austin flare throughout the entire building. Local limestone is used in the architecture, along with local murals from artists and artwork from students at school districts in the area.
"Many that transferred from Texas Children's Hospital in the medical center because they wanted to come to Austin. They love Austin. And so, nearly half of the employers that we're starting with, they're part of the Texas Children's Hospital system. And then another very high percentage are from Austin, Texas. And so we're going to be opening our doors in a tight labor market with already staffed about 800 employees," Wallace said.
The hospital is expected to create more than a 1,000 jobs at the Austin location alone, starting with 800 created as soon as the doors open. Hospital executives say they have also obtained land in South Austin, hinting at expansion.
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