BROWNSVILLE, Texas – DHR Health is to open a new hospital in Brownsville on the site of the old Brownsville Doctors Hospital.
News about the new facility was announced at a news conference held by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. The news conference was held to promote an upcoming jobs fair entitled Careers and Coffee.
“Our new hospital will open up at the end of the year. We have over 200 positions for phase one. It will be a 40- to 60-bed facility. It has got an ER, it has got imaging, inpatient, outpatient, phase 2, it is has got ICU beds, phase 2 will include us adding an additional four operating rooms, for a total of ten ORs,” said Aida Coronado-Garcia, chief operating officer for DHR Health Brownsville.
Coronado-Garcia, a Brownsville native, is a nurse practitioner by profession. Her comments were made to the Rio Grande Guardian at the conclusion of the news conference.
“We will be doing general orthopedic general surgery, neurology, ENT, bariatric. So pretty much we are trying to fill the gaps that are currently needed here in Brownsville,” Coronado-Garcia said.
“We want to work with the community, with the physicians that are here. We are having to recruit physicians from other areas to come and fill those gaps here. That is what we are pushing for and, of course, our main thing is to work with the community. That is our priority.”
The address for the new hospital is 4750 N. Expressway 77.
“You can get off at Morrison, it is the old Brownsville Doctors Hospital. We purchased that building last year, like in June. So, we are under the same tax ID as DHR Health in Edinburg. So, day one we will be taking every insurance (provider) because it is under the same tax ID,” Coronado-Garcia said.
“It will be called DHR Health Brownsville. It is almost like the women’s hospital we have, and the behavioral hospital. So, this is an extension of DHR Health in Edinburg.”
Coronado-Garcia said she does not yet know when the new hospital will be open.
“We are planning on having a grand opening. We do not have the date yet. Towards the end of the year. Things are moving very, very fast. We have lots of positions that we need to fill. Lots of physicians that we are trying to engage. It has just been a lot of work but by the end of the year we will be up and running and we will be able to take our first patient.”
Coronado-Garcia started with DHR just over four years ago.
“Pretty much they recruited me because I am from Brownsville. So, I know the community. I know the needs here. I know there is a great need in health. We have two great hospitals already but we are just hoping we can fill the gaps,” Coronado-Garcia said.
“We have the kidney transplants, that will continue to be done in Edinburg. But we are now starting with the liver transplant. We want to be able to provide the services here locally to the Brownsville patients, instead of them having to drive for an hour.”
Coronado-Garcia said she knows many of Brownsville patients have difficulty getting to their appointments. She believes the new hospital will help rectify this.
“Before, patients were going to San Antonio and Houston for kidney transplants. Now we are getting them done locally. We want to be here locally for the community.”
Asked if DHR Health Brownsville will be able to help those patients that currently get medical attention in Matamoros, Coronado-Garcia said: “We have talked to SpaceX a lot and some of their employees go to Matamoros for get healthcare. These are employees that have insurance but for some reason they go over to Matamoros. With them knowing we are here to provide a service… a lot of it is providing that education.”
The Careers and Coffee Career Expo will be the largest ever in the Rio Grande Valley. It will feature 1,500 job opportunities with various organizations, including DHR Health Brownsville, the City of Brownsville, SpaceX, SteelCoast, Southwest Key, and National Electric Coil.
The expo takes place at the Brownsville Events Center, located at 1 Event Center Road, and entry is free to the general public.It will run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Here are some of the positions DHR Health Brownsville are trying to fill:
Editor’s Note: The main image accompanying the above news story shows DHR Health employees at a recent news conference hosted by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. Aida Coronado-Garcia is pictured far left in the photo.
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