New 4-story Hospital is planned for the NW Austin suburb of Cedar Park. The western 1/3rd of Williamson County has no hospital to speak of. Closest being the Round Rock medical center (approx 11 miles east) and Seton NW Hospital (also 11-12 miles south). Tentative name is Seton Cedar Park.
Good health in Cedar Park's future
By Lauren Cafferty, Hill Country News
The city's abuzz with excitement over recent developments regarding Triad Hospitals bringing a new medical center to Cedar Park.
City officials have announced that the new addition - due to break ground this June and open in early 2008 - will be a boon for residents and will bring countless economic opportunities to the community. Last month, the city council approved an economic development package giving the company incentives and tax abatement - and a warm welcome to the community.
Also in March, Triad announced that it would partner with the Seton Family of Hospitals to build the $105 million facility.
“This is probably the single most important project in terms of improving the quality of life for the people of Cedar Park,” said Mayor Bob Lemon. “In terms of the amount of money that Triad and Seton are investing in the community, it's probably the biggest project we've undertaken. The quality-of-life improvement will be tremendous - we're going to have our own hospital and medical delivery system within minutes of everybody in the city. A hospital of this quality being so close is a tremendous asset to the city.”
But the hospital will not only benefit Cedar Park, said Harold Dean, executive director of the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce. “It will be good for the western side of Williamson County. There are a lot of people in the county that this hospital will service.”
“It completes the city,” said Fred Sides, former chamber board member. “This is good for the whole region and will affect cities around Cedar Park as well.”
“It's a wonderful opportunity,” said Tina Collier, Place 2 Cedar Park council member. “It will further the city's efforts to a kind of full-service community. And not only will it benefit Cedar Park, but many of the smaller towns around us as well - and the entire area.”
“The hospital will be a tremendous asset to the community,” said Maria Talamo, former chamber of commerce board member. “This community has historically been medically underserved and has been needing an acute care hospital for a while. This is a very happy day for me and for the Cedar Park community.”
Phil Brewer, the city's economic development director, believes the hospital will help complete the city's appeal to businesses. “It is one of the final pieces that has been missing as far as the overall community development,” said Brewer. “You need that local healthcare aspect. This project is very important to providing health care. It's the last piece of the puzzle.”
Talamo agrees. She said that often when companies are considering where to locate, one of the factors they consider is access to hospital services. “Access to medical care and acute care facilities is a large factor for which community is picked. You can get passed over if you don't have acute care facilities; that was happening to Cedar Park and we recognized that,” she said.
“Lots of companies, when they're looking at communities, they look at the healthcare network. They want to be in a community that has a strong healthcare network. I think this is certainly going to be another benefit when we're courting those companies,” said Brewer.
The folks from Triad are also excited about the enterprise. “I don't think we could have picked a better community to build a hospital in,” said David Klein, chief executive officer of the Cedar Park hospital. “It's just a neat town. There's excitement in the air, and everybody has just been extremely supportive, very interested, and engaged in the process. The people have been great and very welcoming. We're going to have a great relationship. I'm honored to be a part of this project.”
A team effort
For the last two years, many city officials have worked hard to recruit a hospital to Cedar Park.
“There's a lot of people that worked on this and a huge number of people that deserve credit,” said Lemon. “The chamber was instrumental in bringing Triad to Cedar Park. City staff and 4A and several councils have worked to make this project become a reality. It was a real team effort.”
In January 2004, four people at the chamber of commerce - Maria Talamo, Harold Dean, Fred Sides and Ray Armour - formed the team that worked to recruit a hospital company to the city, said Talamo.
The group started actively recruiting locally first, said Sides. “We made presentations to all [local hospital groups] and we told them we'd move out to a statewide [and national] search if they weren't interested. So we did,” Sides said.
“We went to many, many companies,” said Talamo. “When we found Triad and showed them our demographics, growth and need, they said this was perfect - exactly what they were looking for.”
Sides held up this recruitment process as a model of how economic development should work. First, he said, the chamber should do some legwork and find prospects for a new enterprise, then should hand the suitors off to the 4A board, which will work out the details. “I thought the process was pretty smooth,” he said. “I hope this is the first of many economic development projects for the city.”
During the hospital recruiting process, Sides was impressed with Triad's interest in the community. “Triad stood above everybody else in getting involved with the community. They're someone who cares about the community,” he said.
“They have been great to work with,” said Brewer. “All the Triad officials, they're just quality folks. They're going to be a welcome addition to the community.”
And Klein said Triad is looking forward to working with members of the community to ensure that their needs are being met by the new medical center.
“Really this is the community's hospital. And we want the community to be a part of the hospital,” said Klein.
Residents have been coming to Klein and other Triad representatives with their suggestions about the project, regarding everything from proposing a name for the as yet unnamed hospital to requesting various medical services that might be included in the facility.
“As we move forward, we'll be listening more,” said Klein. “We want to get the community's input.”
One way Triad will seek that input is by forming a community steering committee. Interested people will have a hand in such matters as choosing the stone that will go on the outside of the hospital building, helping select art for the walls and setting up community events.
“We want the community to really participate in what we're doing and tell us what they think of the design and ask about services,” said Klein. “We've gotten some good feedback and we hope to get a lot more before the hospital is built.”
Klein said the project is progressing and the design is in its final stages. Also in the finishing stages is the design of the roadways leading to the hospital. Triad and the city will work together on the road project.
The general contractor for the hospital will be Nashville-based BE&K Building Group, which specializes in healthcare projects. The company worked with Triad on a sister hospital in Tucson, Ariz.
Partners in health care
The joint venture agreement between Triad and Seton gives both organizations equal representation on the partnership's governing board. As a member of the joint venture, Seton will be very involved with the hospital, Klein said.
“I think the fact that they're going to joint venture with Seton is a good, positive thing. It's helping this project to be able to go forward,” said Talamo.
“Seton is a great partner,” said Klein. “They're very strong advocates of patient care, safety and quality; they're also great physicians' advocates. It's a great partnership. We share a lot of the same values. Family is as important to us as it is to them.”
Klein also emphasizes the importance of the community's involvement in the development of the new hospital. “We really appreciate the leadership of the city and the interest of the citizens,” said Klein.
Location, location, location
The four-story center will be built between the intersections of the future U.S. Highway 183A and RM 1431, and U.S. 183A and New Hope Drive, with accessibility from each of those roads.
“It's a great location, from the viewpoint of visibility and accessibility,” said Brewer.
The 68-acre site will also provide plenty of opportunity for other economic development in the surrounding area.
“That's certainly an area that we've targeted for economic growth to begin with, and I see this as another generator for that,” said Collier.
As far as overall location goes, Klein thinks locating the hospital in Cedar Park will be enticing to potential physicians.
“It's a nice area; Williamson County is beautiful and I think it will be an easy area to recruit people to,” he said. “There's the small-town appeal, but you can get in your car and be in the city in just a few minutes.”
Klein and Triad will start recruiting doctors and employees much closer to the facility's completion date. In addition to local Cedar Park and Leander doctors, Klein expects to recruit between 35 and 40 doctors to the hospital. During the recruiting process, Klein and Triad representatives will talk to local doctors, then will expand the search statewide, then nationally.
The hospital
The 260,000-square-foot hospital will open with 75 beds, including 18 in the emergency room, 12 in the intensive care unit, 36 general medical/surgical beds and a maternity area that will include four labor and delivery rooms, two C-section rooms and 18 postpartum beds with a 12-bassinet nursery. There will also be four endoscopy suites and six operating rooms. The medical center will feature a full-service emergency department with acute care services including women's services, cardiology, pediatrics, surgery, orthopedics, imaging and diagnostic services.
Another 76 beds will be shelved for future use, as the need arises. When the facility opens in 2008, the fourth floor of the building will be completely shelled.
“There are expansion beds for every area,” said Klein. “We can open them up at any time, depending on how busy we get. We've got a lot more expansion capability.”
Dean predicts that Williamson County's demand for hospital rooms will likely take full advantage of those expansion capabilities. He referred to a recent situation at Austin emergency rooms when the hospitals had to turn patients away because they were over capacity.
“Once all the hospitals get built and added onto, they will all be needed and will all be full or semi-full. As a matter of fact, they'll help each other,” Dean said.
Next door to the hospital will be located an 80,000-square-foot medical office building scheduled to open in 2007.
Ready to build and grow
Once all 151 beds are open to patients, the hospital should employ about 500 people, but when the hospital first opens, the number of employees will be much lower.
“We'll probably see them start out in the 150-employee range,” said Brewer. “That certainly will depend upon the demand.”
Triad will soon set up a Cedar Park hospital website which will include construction updates, a rendering of the hospital, information about employment opportunities and a physician access area where doctors can communicate directly with Triad representatives.
Klein said he has received positive reactions about the hospital while visiting with several Cedar Park physicians. He said he looks forward to working with local doctors.
“We're very interested in them because they are important to our hospital and we're interested in having them participate with us in the hospital,” Klein said.
The new hospital will form a physicians steering committee, which Klein said will help develop the rules, regulations and bylaws.
The committee and local healthcare providers will also have input in selecting medical equipment and instrumentation for the hospital.
With participation from the community and local doctors, representatives from the city and Triad hope the process of developing the new medical center will be quick and unproblematic.
“We're off and running,” said Klein. “I think it's going to be smooth sailing.”
The privately owned Triad Hospitals Inc., based in Plano, currently runs 51 hospitals in 16 states, including nine in Texas.
The Seton Healthcare Network, a not-for-profit organization, is Central Texas' leading provider of healthcare services, including seven hospitals, a mental health and three primary care clinics for the uninsured.
“Seton, Triad and I are really excited about this opportunity. We feel that quality health care should be provided close to home; we really want this to be a community hospital. I think it's going to be a place people will want to come to get health care,” said Klein.
“This hospital will give us more a sense of community,” said Dean. “Now Cedar Park will be someplace where someone can be born. We haven't had that in the past.”
Published 04/5/06
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