News Releases

New Patient Tower Opens at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital, Expanding Care and Creating Jobs

Houston, Texas, September 15, 2003 -- As hospitals across the country struggle to keep pace with today’s escalating patient demand, Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital introduces a new hospital tower designed to deliver enhanced care for long-term growth in the patient population. The $94 million, nine-story patient tower at 921 Gessner and I-10 represents the latest in a series of hospital expansions and improvements that Memorial Hermann initiated in 2001 in an ongoing commitment to the Houston-area communities it serves.

“We project substantial growth in this area through 2008,” said Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital CEO Wayne Voss. “The addition of new services keeps our hospital at the leading edge of healthcare as a state-of-the-art facility.”

Among the new services is a 19-bed Neurosciences Center, providing diagnosis and treatment of brain and nervous system disorders. That facility is credentialed as a stroke center and equipped to provide acute stroke treatment according to American Stroke Association guidelines.

With a 40 percent increase in demand for emergency services — translating to more than 40,000 patient visits to the emergency room each year — the new patient tower is home to an emergency department with 34 beds.

Inpatient rooms throughout the hospital have been enlarged. Other features of the tower include:

• 12-suite inpatient operating room
• 36-bed intensive care unit
• 24-bed intermediate care unit
• two 43-bed inpatient medical/surgical units
• 19-bed observation unit (Summer 2004)
• first-in-the-state bedside PatientStation technology, featuring television, radio and Internet access

The expansion of facilities and services at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital will create 150 more full-time jobs, including clinical positions such as nursing. Individuals will also be hired to fill roles in housekeeping, food services and maintenance.

Hospital administrators and employees marked the grand opening of the patient tower Sept. 15. The new facility will officially open to patients on Sept. 29. Meantime, renovations to the hospital’s original structure will continue through Fall 2004.

For more information, contact Media Relations.