When you walk into the UTMB’s League City Campus Hospital, it’s clear that it was built with the needs of the growing community in mind.
With its convenient location and extra patient room amenities, the 150,000-square-foot hospital opened to patients on June 4, complete with inpatient and emergency care.
“Improving access to high-quality health care is a focus at UTMB,” said UTMB President David Callender at the hospital’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in May. “This beautiful, new League City Hospital—supported by our surrounding network of primary and specialty care clinics—allows us to deliver exceptional, close-to-home health care to the nearby mainland communities experiencing unprecedented growth. We are honored to be here, serving patients and families and advancing our mission to improve the health of all Texans.”
It was standing room only as a crowd of local dignitaries, UTMB leaders, staff and many friends from throughout the surrounding area attended the May 3 ceremony, which also included a tour of the three-story facility. The LCC Hospital marks UTMB’s expansion to inpatient care on the mainland and is connected to the campus’ specialty clinics, which opened in 2010.
Like the new Jennie Sealy Hospital in Galveston, the LCC Hospital was designed in collaboration with patients, families, physicians and staff to create an environment that is both comforting and healing.
“You’ll see it in the Labor and Delivery Unit, where a new dad told us, ‘Add more counter space, because when you’re a new parent, you get lots of stuff—you get gifts and flowers and we need a place for it in the room,’” said Deb McGrew, chief operating officer at UTMB. “You’ll see it in our patient rooms with the little refrigerators. Patients and families said those were a ‘must’ in the design process. And you’ll see it in the tick marks on the floor, which was a wonderful suggestion from one of our physical therapists, who said, ‘Put these tick marks so patients will know how long they have walked, because it’s so important to maintain your mobility when you’re in the hospital.’”
Although the hospital experienced construction delays, many said it was worth the wait.
UTMB added 150 new positions to support the 24-hour care offered at the LCC. Jennifer Nguyen, an Emergency Department nurse, was excited to transition from the Galveston Campus to the new ED in League City.
“It’s a new adventure,” said Nguyen. “Coming from a Level 1 trauma center and transitioning to an ED that is equipped to provide a community hospital response to emergencies like shortness of breath and broken limbs will be a little different. We have a great team of nurses and doctors here in League City. When really critical cases come our way, we will be able to do our trauma nursing assessment, stabilize the patient and then transfer as necessary to Galveston.”
As League City continues to grow, the LCC is also positioned for future expansion. The building is designed to accommodate additional patient floors.
