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$42 million expansion project nearly complete at Coryell Memorial Healthcare System

Posted at 5:59 PM, Jun 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-13 19:12:37-04

Staff, patients and residents at the Coryell Memorial Healthcare System have been listening to heavy machinery for months, but it's about to pay off. 

"Oh very exciting. We're very excited to get all of these new things," said Dr. Diedra Wuenschel, Chief of Staff for Coryell Memorial Healthcare System.

In 2016, staff broke ground on a renovation and expansion project that was years in the making. Now it's just a few months away from being finished.

"When I started here seven years ago, Building 1 was all that was open and that's where I started. We grew out of that very quickly and had to move into Building 2,"  Dr. Wuenschel said. "So ever since I've been here we've just grown and grown and have been able to serve more people."

The $42 million project will add nearly 120,000 square feet of facility space and include upgrades to existing services.

Carly Latham, director of marketing at Coryell Memorial Healthcare System, said every dollar is going towards improving patient care. 

"It all kind of goes back to our mission and one of the things about our mission is bringing healthcare to our community and providing services so patients no longer have to drive out of town," Latham said.

"They don't have to leave," Dr. Wuenschel said. "They get to stay here in town, where they want to be. People don't like to leave their town. They love Gatesville and want to stay here."

Latham said the medical center sees about 4,300 patients each month from a 40-mile radius of Gatesville. The new building will house more than two dozen beds and a medical rehab facility that allows them to serve even more people. There will also be two new operating rooms added and two current operating rooms will be renovated.

"It's going to allow us to do more surgeries," Dr. Wuenschel said.

The project is also bringing more people to the area. The hospital has already hired additional employees and will hire more once the project is complete.

"A new general surgeon, we've been able to bring a new orthopedic surgeon because they're very excited about our ORs," Dr. Wuenschel said.  

Latham said the project has been worked on in stages since construction began. She expects the new building to be done by late summer or early fall. All of the expansion projects should be wrapped up by the end of the year. 

"It's just going to allow them access to better healthcare services, meeting the needs of them and their family," Latham said.

"We want to take care of them and we want them to stay here and get the best quality care here that they can get," Dr. Wuenschel said.  

For more information on services offered at Coryell Memorial Healthcare System, click here

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