Couple donates $1 million to Marble Falls hospital project
MARBLE FALLS — A Horseshoe Bay couple donated $1 million to a fundraising campaign for the Wayne & Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center-Scott & White, now entering its first phase of construction.
Robert and Barbara McFarland want to ensure the complex gets built so people won’t move to other communities because of their health needs, according to a release from Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare.
“We appreciate where we live and would like to continue living here,” Robert McFarland told Scott & White officials. “Many of our friends have had to move away because their health has made it necessary for them to live close to a medical facility. We live in an area with so many outstanding amenities; the only thing that is missing is a hospital.”
The million-dollar pledge by the couple represents the lead gift in a $23 million campaign for the facility, according to a news release from Scott & White.
A groundbreaking Nov. 16 attended by hundreds marked the start of a multi-purpose clinic at the $183 million facility, which is anticipated to be finished in 2018 when an 80-bed hospital is built.
Private donors and other benefactors also are taking part in a capital campaign for the complex’s ancillary needs.
“Barbara and I hope this gift will keep this project moving and inspire others to contribute as well. We are committing our money to help make this hospital a reality,” McFarland said.
The clinic is the anchor for the medical center campus and could be complete by the end of spring 2013. The complex is on Texas 71 west of U.S. 281.
“A hospital will serve all the residents of the communities in the area, enabling them to stay here for their health care and enjoy rich, full lives,” McFarland said. The couple moved to the area in 1986.
The Wayne & Eileen Hurd Regional Medical Center, a proposed 200,000-square-foot hospital, will include a clinic, surgical suites and a diagnostic center built in three phases.
Barbara McFarland said she supports the Scott & White project because of her own positive experiences with the healthcare nonprofit.
“I had wonderful care,” she said of her time at the Temple facility in 1997. But she had to make a 100-mile trip every three months for her checkups.
“I would love for people not to have to drive that distance to receive quality care,” she said.
“The McFarlands represent the confidence the residents of the Hill Country have in Scott & White. We are so appreciative of their tremendous generosity,” said Nancy Birdwell, chief development officer for Scott & White.
The complex originally was called Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center. The name was changed to honor the Hurds for their contributions to the community; Wayne Hurd was a cofounder of Horseshoe Bay.
For more, visit lohrmc.org.