Ribbon-cutting for Marble Falls Specialty Clinic is May 31
CONNIE SWINNEY • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — A new specialty clinic on Texas 71 just off U.S. 281 — the first phase of a multimillion-dollar medical complex — will open its doors June 3 with the promise to reshape the economic and healthcare landscape of the region, officials said.The Scott and White Specialty Clinic-Marble Falls, a 66,000-square-feet, three-story facility, will feature 15 specialties, including cardiology, orthopedics, podiatry, pain management, obstetrics, gynecology and optometry services.
“We would get the Austin (specialists) coming out here a day or two a week (before this clinic),” said Kevin Leeper, CEO for Scott & White Healthcare-Hill Country Region. “With the new clinic, these (specialists) are all going to live in our area.”
Other services to be phased in between now and August are dermatology, urology, general surgery, hematology and oncology, he said.
As community leaders usher in the phase-one clinic with a ribbon-cutting May 31, attendees will notice that crews have already carved out the foundation for the next construction project of the Wayne and Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center.
Crews have turned dirt for the construction of a 24-hour emergency room facility and hospital tower expected to be completed in the fall of 2014, Leeper said.
The completed 120-acre project will offer 46 medical/surgical and intensive-care unit beds within a 200,000-square-feet facility. The center was named after Horseshoe Bay philanthropists Wayne and Eileen Hurd for their community contributions and support for local medical care advancement.
“This is just like a catalyst,” Marble Falls Mayor George Russell said. “We’ve already had a number of assisted-living facilities, other medical facilities that would like to partner with Scott and White.”
The city of Marble Falls extended water lines and partnered with a proposed housing development nearby to fund a water tower to serve the needs of growth on and around the medical complex property.
“People were driving all over for medical treatment, and Scott and White stepped up and said they wanted to be a partner in this area,” Russell said. “If you look at our area, Marble Falls has established itself as a regional hub. Over the next three to five years, you’ll see some pretty significant advancement in that area.”
Russell said the results of an economic development report by the city estimated the Scott and White project and ancillary facilities will create more than 1,000 jobs within the next decade.
“And it would bring in about a billion dollars worth of revenue to this area (within the next 10 years),” he said. “Let’s hope they’re right.”
connie@thepicayune.com