Hospital to offer new technology in The Woodlands

When Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital opens July 1, residents of south Montgomery County will have access to some of the newest technology in the health care industry.

The full-service, acute-care hospital is the eighth facility to open in the Houston Methodist system and will employ 600 people when it opens. The 480,000-square-foot hospital sits on a 59-acre, master-planned campus at I-45 and Hwy. 242. It will open with 187 beds, 10 operating rooms—two of which are Da Vinci XI robotic rooms—and a hybrid operating room to allow for complex cases to be performed.

[caption id="attachment_248915" align="alignright" width="460"] A state-of-the-art orthopedics and sports medicine facility opened on the hospital campus earlier this spring.[/caption]

“It’s hard to lead medicine if you don’t have comprehensive services—we’ll have all the services you’d expect at Houston Methodist,” Vice President of Operations Trent Fulin said. “One of the reasons we’re building such a comprehensive, large facility is so from day one we can do heart surgery and neurosurgery.”

A medical office building that is 100 percent occupied is already open on the campus, along with a breast center and an orthopedics and sports medicine clinic. Construction began earlier this spring on a second medical office building and a 785-space parking garage that will be linked together with the hospital by an air-conditioned skywalk system.

As the community around the hospital grows, the campus will continue to expand in the future as well, Fulin said.

“The hospital was planned to be 400 beds, so that would be another major project,” he said. “Then there are plans for two more medical office buildings eventually. As the community grows, we’ll continue to grow.”

In addition to the latest technology in the hospital, there will be a comprehensive cancer center opening in the medical office building this summer as well so patients can tap into clinical trials and treatment.

“When you think about radiation treatment, you have to go several times a week, so now patients who drive to the [Texas Medical] Center can come and receive radiation close to home,” Fulin said.

The campus will also offer the latest technology in the breast center, including the newest mammography equipment, Hologic 3-D systems and the Savvy Scout system, which uses radar technology to locate tumors during surgery.

“To lead medicine, it’s a combination of world-class physicians, innovative technology and wonderful staff that cares for medicine,” Fulin said.