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MAY 19, 2016
Hesser Wins 2016 Mandate
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St. David’s Georgetown Opens Doors to New ICU
Contested race winners Council Member John Hesser and School Board Trustee Andy Webb The Georgetown City Council will continue its charted path this year as John Hesser was re-elected for a second term May 7, defeating Dwaine Boydstun by more than 24 points. Hesser ran a grass-roots campaign; choosing to build upon and maintain the good relationships he built in his first term. “Serving on the City Council has broadened my knowledge base and uniquely prepared me to continue to better serve my constituents in District 3 and the citizens of Georgetown another three years,” Hesser says. “I have learned from my first term a great deal to ensure that this city we all call home will continue in a direction that will preserve our heritage and assimilate the opportunities facing us from impending growth.” Council members Steve Fought (Dist 4) and Tommy Gonzalez (Dist 7) ran unopposed for re-election to their respective district seats. All members were sworn in May 18 at City Hall. The single change at the dais will take place as Mayor Pro Tem Keith Brainard steps down and a new Mayor Pro Tem Steve Fought takes over. On the Georgetown ISD Board of Trustees, Andy Webb (60.5%) defeated Paula Chaney (39.4%) to begin his second term, and Scott Stribling and Scott Alarcon (below), who ran unopposed, were also re-elected. Alarcon stepped down as trustee President and the board selected Scott Stribling as the new President.
DRIVERS W/ SUSPENDED LICENSES GET A BREAK p. A3
Top: CEO Hugh Brown, flanked by two new rooms, prepares to cut the ribbon. • Bottom: Critical Care Director Gary Dent, RN demonstrates the rotoprone bed, with stand-in “patient” Kate Saddler, for open house visitors. “Expanded space enables more patient comfort and privacy,” Dent says. “Previously, using this bed might allow one other person in the room, or it would even have to stand partially outside the door.”
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t. David’s HealthCare opened its the newly expanded intensive care unit (ICU) at St. David’s Georgetown Hospital Friday, May 6. This $7.7 million capital investment will provide aroundthe-clock care for patients with life-threatening conditions in Georgetown and surrounding communities. St. David’s Georgetown fully funded the build in conjunction with the St. David’s HealthCare Foundation and the Georgetown Health Care Foundation. The hospital hosted a public open house to demonstrate the new space and the ease and efficiency created by the expansion. “We have long been committed to providing our community with exceptional care close to home,” said Hugh Brown, CEO of St. David’s Georgetown Hospital. “The new ICU ensures St. David’s Georgetown Hospital will continue to meet the need for high-quality acute care to an increasing Georgetown population, and provide the opportunity for future expansion as the community needs it.” The new ICU features 10 critical care beds, including two isolation rooms, state-of-the-art monitoring equipment and technology, a dedicated waiting room and shell space for four additional critical care beds to be added as demand warrants. The expansion increases the ICU from 2,200 feet to 11,500 feet. Critical Care Director Gary Dent says; “We’ve seen our numbers grow over the past few years and now we will not have to turn any patients away due to lack of critical care space. The private rooms are more hotel-like and less sterile looking. They enable greater acute care, they are a lot more soothing for the patients, and more accommodating for family. These are the most critical patients we have, so we have the best space and resources to take care of them. We don’t have to shut visitors out any more to make room for the doctors and equipment in the patient area.” Brown agreed and told the assembly, “We took great care with design specs; from the beautiful view to the tiles on the floor. When a patient wakes up here, we want to have to argue with them that this is actually
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a hospital.” In anticipation of this expansion, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital began hiring additional staff members in 2014 and had several transfers from within the St. David’s system; employees are eager to transfer from Austin (and the commute) to take up residence in Georgetown. The hospital plans to add a fourth full-time critical care physician later this year, which will provide physician coverage to support anticipated future growth. In recent years, the hospital’s ICU has seen a significant increase in critical care patients. ICU patient volume and average daily census increased 21 percent in 2015 over 2014. The new unit provides additional capacity to care for the increasing patient volume. “The expansion of the ICU gives our team of highly-skilled nurses and medical staff the capacity to continue providing exceptional care to a growing number of patients with critical and complex medical needs,” Dominic deKeratry, MD, medical director of the ICU at St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, said. Dent added, “We have also continued to add service lines and this growth will sustain us for many years to come. This will put us ten years ahead of the growth in all departments and it’s a natural start to begin with the sickest patients that we have.” The opening of the ICU coincides with the 10th anniversary of the hospital joining St. David’s HealthCare, one of the largest health systems in Texas and one of the top ten highest rated community hospitals in the nation. Over the past decade, St. David’s HealthCare has invested $45 million in St. David’s Georgetown Hospital.
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