Ark-Tex Hospitals Invest in Leading Technology, Treatment
Published Mar 16, 2009
Nurses Angela Clark and Joe Stringfellow monitor a patient at Paris Regional’s new cardiac-catherization lab.
Through a series of construction projects, capital investments and technology acquisitions, Ark-Tex hospitals are offering specialized care that patients previously had to travel outside the area to receive.
Paris Regional Medical Center opened the Heart Hospital at its north campus in 2008, creating a comprehensive cardiac-care center.
The 12,000-square-foot facility features a 12-bed cardiac intensive-care unit, a 16-bed inpatient unit and chest-pain center. Seeking to include the latest technology, hospital officials outfitted two new cardiac-catherization laboratories with a 64-slice CT scanner, digital image-management system and state-of-the-art cardiac monitoring systems. These technologies form the backbone of efforts to create a cardiac-care center of excellence.
“By creating a cardiac center of excellence, we are making a bold statement to the region,” says Dr. Khalid Shafiq, Paris Regional chief of staff. “We’re serious about providing state-of-the-art care on the level usually offered only in large metropolitan markets.”
At Hopkins County Memorial Hospital, officials opened a comprehensive center for wound care and hyperbaric medicine in 2006. At the Wound Care Center at Memorial, trained staff members use the most technologically advanced wound therapy and provide education to patients and caregivers.
Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, founded in 1900, has a history of adopting the latest technology. In the 1990s alone, the hospital opened a gastrointestinal lab, bought the area’s first stereotactic needle biopsy system to diagnose breast cancer, added an MRI and opened a wound-care and hyperbaric medicine center.
Wadley Regional signed a letter of intent in October 2008 to consolidate operations with CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana.
CHRISTUS, established in 1916 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, offers a comprehensive slate of services including heart care, orthopedic care, cancer care and women’s and children’s care.
The flagship, 312-bed acute-care hospital is on a 129-acre campus in Texarkana that also includes a 50-bed acute-care hospital, 50-bed rehab hospital and centers for outpatient rehabilitation, imaging and fitness.
The hospitals, which include a staff of 220 doctors and 2,200 nurses, has received numerous accolades, including a No. 1 ranking in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma by HealthGrades for heart surgery in 2007, and three 2007 Specialty Excellence Awards for general, vascular and cardiac surgery.
Story by Roy Moore
Photo by Todd Bennett
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