Eric Evans was appointed CEO of Tomball Regional Medical Center in December after serving most recently as CEO of East Houston Regional Medical Center, which closed after sustaining flood damage from Hurricane Harvey in August. TRMC was one of nine medical facilities acquired by Hospital Corporation of America Healthcare’s Gulf Coast Division last summer. Evans said he has worked for HCA Healthcare for 22 years, serving in Houston-area leadership positions since 2010, including five years as the chief operating officer of The Women’s Hospital of Texas. What are some initiatives you plan to implement at TRMC? We’re working on several different initiatives, but I felt that it was most important for me to come in and really set the tone from a vision standpoint and really work on the culture. I wanted to bring the HCA culture to this hospital and this community. From a programmatic standpoint we have a very robust robotics program—a minimally invasive surgery program. We are investing over $20 million in this institution, so we bought several pieces of equipment. We are really investing in our cardiology program ... we’re going to be doing a complete renovation of our cardiac area and really amplifying that. From a women’s and children’s standpoint [I] want to leverage my experience at The Women’s Hospital of Texas, so [we are] trying to develop a partnership with The Women’s Hospital of Texas. [The partnership is] still in development, but it would be The Women’s Hospital of Texas at Tomball. What distinguishes TRMC from other hospitals in northwest Houston? I really think that what distinguishes us is we’ve been in this community since 1948. So we’ve been a part of this community, and this hospital was started by this community—different than I think from other hospitals that have come to the area. Where do you see TRMC headed? The vision is world-class quality, service and employee engagement. ... We want to make sure we have the best quality of care for the people in this community. We are going to grow this hospital in the future. You’ll see us get more into women’s services. We are going to bring a Solis Mammography [clinic]. We’ve got a cancer center on campus; we’re reopening that here very soon—probably within the third quarter [of 2018]. Solis will be in the first quarter [of 2019]. We’re recruiting in a board-certified female breast surgeon to serve those needs. I’m very passionate about [cancer care]; that’s how I got into health care. My mother died of breast cancer, so we’re really going to bring that service to this community that is lacking currently. We’ve got mammography but not to this level. We’re going to be recruiting in several more [obstetricians and gynecologists]. We want to serve the growing needs of this community. With a population growth of 20 percent year over year, we really see the need to grow our labor and delivery program [as well]. How does TRMC plan to expand its reach into the Magnolia area? We’re committed to that freestanding [Affinity Medical emergency room] right there in Magnolia and want to grow the volume there and the services. ... We’re also partnering with CareNow [purchased by HCA a few years ago]. We currently have one CareNow [Urgent Care] that’s in the new Magnolia area. We’re going to see probably four or five of those in the Magnolia and Tomball [areas] over the next few years. We also, as part of our relationship with The Women’s Hospital of Texas, want to put a women’s clinic in Magnolia to bring maternal fetal medicine for high-risk [obstetrics], put [obstetricians] in that area and also [put in] a breast screening area. We’re going to continue to invest in the Magnolia area; we just see that it’s going to have explosive growth, especially over the next few years as the expansion of the [Hwy.] 249 toll road brings a lot of volume [there].