YOUR HEALTH
From Humble Beginnings METHODIST RICHARDSON MEDICAL CENTER BECOMES A DESTINATION FACILITY by Jan Arrant
F
rom its humble beginnings in 1963, Methodist There were more changes in 2003, when the 10-year Richardson Medical Center, known then as Spring affiliation with Baylor Health Care System ended. The Valley Hospital, has perhaps become more than facility was renamed Richardson Regional Medical its founding fathers ever could have imagined. Center. The name changed, but the growth continued, Methodist Richardson now spans two campuses, as the Physician Pavilion opened on the Bush/Renner offering highly specialized campus in 2004, followed care that is drawing by the new Richardson patients from across Cancer Center and a new Texas and the country. Emergency Department in “We’re proud to serve 2008. our communities and The following year, beyond,” said Methodist Richardson Regional joined Richardson President Ken the Methodist Health Hutchenrider, FACHE. System, changing its name Let’s go back to see to what it is today, Methodist how it all started. In 1958, Richardson Medical Center. Richardson had about RHA officially sold the 15,000 residents. The city hospital to Methodist in determined there was a 2011, ending the city’s growing need for a community hospital, 45-year ownership. which led to the creation of the Richardson In April 2014, the Hospital Authority (RHA). Seven years all-new $120 million later, Spring Valley Hospital opened with hospital opened at the 35 beds and 10 physicians. It later became intersection of George Methodist Richardson Medical Center over the years. Richardson General Hospital, but financial Bush and Renner losses forced the owners to sell. Seeing great opportunity, Road. Within three years, the hospital was adding on the city bought Richardson General in 1966. again. An $85-million expansion in 2017 added two Residential growth boomed in the 1960s and ’70s, more patient care floors, a third cardiac catheterization prompting RHA to acquire 60 acres of land on Campbell lab and a ninth operating room. Road for a new hospital. In 1975, with a budget of $9.7 The hospital has also added more specialties along million, they broke ground on a 100,000-square-foot the way, including advanced cardiovascular services facility. Named for a Dallas businessman, B.B. Owen and complex gastrointestinal services. In fact, in 2018, Memorial Hospital opened two and a half years later. the Joint Commission awarded the hospital the Gold The hospital thrived and continued under the Seal of Approval for liver and pancreas cancer care. The direction of the Richardson Hospital Authority until designation was the first in the nation. 1993. That’s when it became an affiliate of the Baylor The growth continues this summer, as the hospital is Health Care System and changed its name to Baylor set to break ground on a $45 million expansion to the Richardson Medical Center. That same year, the Cancer emergency department, lab and pharmacy. Center opened, along with a physician office building. Hutchenrider added, “The focus of this hospital has By the year 2000, Richardson was no longer a bedroom always been about providing compassionate, quality community, but rather a significant employment center healthcare for the communities we serve, and as those thanks to the Telecom Corridor. In 2002, RHA bought 20 communities expand, we must be diligent to stay ahead acres of land at the southeast corner of Renner Road and of the healthcare curve.” • the President George Bush Highway. This tract of land Texas law prohibits hospitals from practicing medicine. The physicians on the seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but it would later Methodist Health System medical staff are independent practitioners who are not become the bustling Bush/Renner campus. employees or agents of Methodist Health System.
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| July/August 2022
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