Amarillo hospitals expand at Baptist, Northwest

AMARILLO – Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital (BSA), located at 1600 Wallace Blvd., will spend $25 million to expand its 15-year-old ER, according to spokeswoman Mary Barlow.

“It was originally designed to accommodate 80 patients in a 24-hour period,” said Barlow. “Some days, we see as many as 200 in that same 24-hour period.

The new 46-bed ER will be tacked onto a department adjacent to the current ER that now holds medical records, which will be relocated to a basement area.

“The entrance for patients, waiting room, registration, ambulance bay, nurses’ station and patient rooms will all have a new look and be in a new location,” said Barlow. Construction work will be accomplished in phases so it will not interrupt emergency services.

When Ardent Health Services purchased an 80 percent stake in the BSA Health System in 2012, it promised to build the $25 million, 110,000-sf Harold and Joyce Courson Clinic for the Don & Sybil Harrington Cancer Center.

Baptist Community Services retained 20 percent interest in the health system under the deal.

Northwest Texas Healthcare System has finished a $250,000 renovation to create a ten-room inpatient rehabilitation unit for patients with disabling conditions, according to spokeswoman Caytie Martin.

The rooms contain a full kitchen, laundry facilities and a bed. The rehab unit also features a nursing station and a room where patients can take their meals.

Northwest carved out space for the unit by reducing a cardiac medical surgery area in the Heart Hospital of Northwest Texas from 29 rooms to 19.

In 2014, Northwest Texas Healthcare System will add 16 beds to The Pavilion, the mental health treatment facility, and upgrade various other facilities.