CHI St. Luke's Health—Sugar Land opened an expanded Family Birthing center Feb. 29.[/caption]CHI St. Luke’s Health—Sugar Land Hospital opened its expanded Family Birthing Center on Feb. 29. A new sports medicine institute will follow in April at Memorial Hermann Sugar Land, two examples of how healthcare providers are responding to the county’s growing population—particularly younger residents.
Wes Garrison, vice president of patient care services at CHI St. Luke’s, said the birthing center expanded to 23,387 square feet and now includes 15 birthing suites and five Level II neonatal intensive care rooms. All rooms are private and parents are able to stay with their infants in the NICU rooms. The expansion cost about $1.5 million.
“We’re a community hospital and that’s one of the major needs in our community is obstetrics,” he said. “Anticipated [population] growth over the next five years is about 11.5 percent. My statistics see about [a] 12 percent increase in women in childbearing age.”
Rooms have a “hotel” atmosphere with 42-inch TVs, Wi-Fi access and double beds for guests. Nurse navigators will be available beginning at the 24th week of pregnancy to help patients prepare for delivery.
The center also uses a Bluetooth-enabled Novii Wireless Patch System to monitor a baby’s heart rate and uterine activity, without the mother needing to stay in bed.
Garrison said the new range of services reflects patients’ heightened awareness of their delivery options.
“Certainly I think that the patients are becoming much more savvy, and it’s not just in women’s health,” he said.
The expected influx of young families is also a driving factor for Memorial Hermann’s new Ironman Sports Medicine Institute, due to open April 4.
The nearly 15,000-square-foot facility will be located at the hospital’s new medical plaza #2 at 17520 Grand Parkway South, Ste. 100, Sugar Land.
The institute will offer physical, speech and occupation therapy, as well as a “human performance component,” Steven Ramirez, sports medicine coordinator for the institute, said.
The “human performance component” involves strength conditioning, a BOD POD body composition assessment, a sports dietician and concussion rehabilitation.
“We’ve got a lot of existing sports partnerships including with the [Sugar Land] Skeeters [and schools],” Ramirez said.
He said the county’s growing numbers of young families offered an opportunity to expand sports medicine services.
“It certainly makes sense to kind of be ahead of the curve,” he said. “When their kids are playing sports, they grow older [and] they do have access to sports medicine.”
Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and Kelsey-Seybold Clinic also have new facilities launching this year.
Houston Methodist finished its $131 million expansion—which started in 2013—when it opened the Brazos Pavilion Feb. 26, housing 104 patient care beds, according to a news release.
Kelsey-Seybold Sienna Planation, a $9 million 23,800-square-foot office building, is slated to open in August. The site will have 12 physicians in different medical specialties, John Lyle, vice president of operations at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, said in the fall.
