KATY MAGAZINE NEWS
March 24, 2022
By Natalie Cook Clark
Memorial Hermann Katy has announced a $167 million expansion that will add 155,000 square-feet, nearly 100 beds, services, and more to match Katy’s growing population. According to estimates, nearly a half-million people will call Katy home by 2024.
Photo courtesy: Memorial Hermann Katy
Memorial Hermann Katy to Grow to Match Katy’s Need
Katy continues to surge in population and business development prompting action to meet the growing need of services. Katy ISD is the fastest growing public-school district in Texas and now Memorial Hermann Katy has announced a massive expansion to allow their medical center to better serve the expanding population.
Katy Estimated to have Half-Million People by 2024
According to estimates by the Katy Area Economic Development Council, nearly a half-million people will call the area home by 2024. To meet the growing need, Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital has announced a $167 million expansion that will add 115,000-square-feet of new and renovated service areas, nearly 100 beds, and a third professional office building. They will also add more parking including an additional parking garage.
“Our community continues to grow and we are committed to grow with it, just as we have for the last 40 years,” says Jerry Ashworth, Senior Vice President and CEO of Memorial Hermann Katy and Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospitals.
Growing in Specialty and Surgical Care
Ashworth stresses that this is more than an expansion because it will also strategically focus on growing in specialty and surgical care. “Residents can depend on us to support their healthcare needs, from routine outpatient visits to complex inpatient procedures, in their own community,” he adds.
The first phase of the project is underway in existing shell space on the 5th and 6th floors of the hospital’s East Tower. Eighty medical/surgical patient beds and six antepartum beds are being added, bringing the hospital’s total bed count to close to 300. Two new operating rooms will also be added in addition to four neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) rooms and an expansion of the cardiac catheterization lab.
The next phases include the significant expansion of the Emergency Department, which serves as the Katy area’s only Level III Trauma Center.
“The Emergency Department often functions as the first point of entry for patients who come to Memorial Hermann Katy in times of severe illness or as a result of traumatic injury,” says Vivien Bond, Vice President and COO of Memorial Hermann Katy.
Emergency Department will Double in Size
When complete, the Emergency Department will double in size to 40,000-square-feet and add additional treatment rooms, including two state-of-the-art trauma rooms, space for more CT scanners, upgraded equipment and more. In addition, the hospital is focused on expanding its capabilities in the areas of trauma and critical care medicine, neurosurgery, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery and more to better respond to the emergent needs of those who live and work in and around Katy.
“This expansion – both in size and increased capabilities – will enable us to better serve these patients by providing the full spectrum of quality care right here in our community,” says Bond.
Adding Labor and Delivery Rooms; Expanding Breast Center
The project will also support a major overhaul of Women’s Services, including relocating the nursery and adding labor and delivery rooms, a cesarean section (C-section) suite and doubling the number of obstetrical emergency rooms.
The Ironman Sports Medicine Institute at Memorial Hermann Sports Park-Katy and the Memorial Hermann Breast Care Center are also expanding.
More Jobs, Volunteers Opportunities Coming to Katy
This massive expansion will also bring additional job opportunities, both clinical and administrative to Katy. The hospital will also add volunteers.
This isn’t the first time the hospital has grown to support Katy’s growth. Within the past five years, the campus added 24/7 pediatric emergency department and inpatient unit, as well as the Memorial Hermann Sports Park-Katy, a full-range sports medicine facility that provides medical care and athletic training.
The hospital also is home to a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and it serves as a Memorial Hermann Life Flight base for the west Houston metro area.
Katy continues to experience much growth in both residential and business development. This expansion of Memorial Hermann will bring additional services and local jobs to support and expand along with the city.