As part of a $5.77 million series of additions and renovations at St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, officials with St. David’s HealthCare celebrated the completion in June of a new helipad and an expanded parking lot.


In November the hospital opened a new emergency entrance that connects the facility directly to the nearby I-35 frontage road. Then in February it unveiled a renovated emergency department that added five treatment spaces.


Hospital CEO Hugh Brown said the main goal of the expansion and renovation was to improve patient access and health care quality for Georgetown and Williamson County residents.


“This project will save lives,” Brown said. “[It will] let people know they have access to a high-quality hospital in their own town.”



As Georgetown has grown in recent years, the hospital’s patient volume has also risen, making it apparent the hospital needed to expand, Brown said.


St. David’s announced in 2016 that it would invest more than $275 million in its Central Texas health care infrastructure, largely due to the need to handle a growing patient population.


In addition to expanding in Georgetown, the health care provider opened St. David’s Surgical Hospital in Northwest Austin in October. St. David’s also plans to complete a freestanding emergency department in Leander by the fall and finish expansion at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center by early 2019.


St. David’s HealthCare, which was created in 1996, is a joint partnership among the for-profit Hospital Corporation of America and two nonprofit organizations: St. David’s Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation.


The provider is not the only Central Texas hospital operator undergoing expansion.


Both Seton Healthcare Family and Baylor Scott & White Health have recently opened or plan to soon open hospitals, including the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas that opened in May and Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Pflugerville, which is expected to open in mid-2018.


At St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, the new emergency entrance connected to the I-35 frontage road is designed to provide better visibility and connectively for emergency vehicles, patients and employees, Brown said.


On his first day as the hospital’s CEO in 2007, Brown said even he had trouble finding his way to the facility due to the lack of a more visible entrance.


Brown said Williamson County Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey was integral in the improvement process. Both Brown and Covey said they believe the hospital’s expansion will make a positive difference in Williamson County.


“We are excited to celebrate St. David’s new helipad, parking lot and emergency room renovations as well as the connection to the frontage roads and the swiftness with which
ambulances can now get patients to the hospital,” Covey said in a statement.


Williamson County EMS Director Mike Knipstein said his department is also pleased to see the additions.


“The new entrance was a needed improvement that allows us to get the patients to the ER in a safer and quicker manner,” Knipstein said. “We are always excited to see ER expansions and increased services as they allow Williamson County residents to receive services in the county.”


The helipad will also allow for more patients, especially critically ill ones, to be admitted to the hospital, Brown said.


The hospital prides itself on short wait times in its emergency room, Brown said. The recent addition of parking spaces and reconfiguration of the emergency department should further improve that service, he said. Brown said hospital officials hope to also expand its roster of primary care doctors that accept Medicare patients.

Additional reporting by Evan Marczynski