Memorial Hermann Pearland Hospital opened its doors to patients March 29. The 250,000-square-foot facility adds to the existing medical campus off Hwy. 288 that includes the Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Center, which opened in  February 2014.

“The hospital completes the medical complex,” said Mario Garner, MHPH senior vice president and CEO. “We have the emergency center, the primary care office, two medical office buildings that will house several specialists and now we have the in-patient component.”

MHPH includes 64 beds and has space reserved for future expansion. The first two floors of the patient care tower are shelled for the addition of about 55 beds, Garner said. Memorial Hermann also has a facility master plan to double that number in the existing building if necessary.

The hospital includes 64 beds.[/caption]

Garner said MHPH is designed to pay homage to Pearland. In addition to the Pearland Cafe, the hospital named its conference room after Mayor Tom Reid. Memorial Hermann also worked with the Pearland Historical Society to compile a timeline of the city that is on display on the first floor.

With an open floor plan and a large number of windows, MHPH is built to make patients feel comfortable, Garner said.

“We know that natural sunlight promotes healing for patients,” he said. “We pride ourselves on not feeling like an institutional hospital. I want us to feel like a healing place.”

The hospital will feature specialists in a variety of fields, including cardiology, general surgery, neurology and OB-GYN.

About 80 MHPH employees are transfers from Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital, which served many residents in the Pearland area as the system’s nearest hospital.

“Much of the equipment and many of the processes that are in place at [MHSH] we will reproduce here,” Garner said. “[Transfers] had already been trained when they came into the building on day one in early March.”

MHPH features a historical timeline of Pearland.[/caption]