NEW PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL TO OPEN THURSDAY, AUGUST 20

At 6 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 20, the Rees-Jones Trauma Center, Emergency Department, Urgent Care Emergency Department and Labor & Delivery services in the new Parkland Memorial Hospital will open for business at its new location, 5200 Harry Hines Blvd. Simultaneously, the current hospital will stop receiving new emergency patients and those arriving for care via ambulance will be taken to the new location. Parkland staff will continue to care for all patients in these departments at the current facility until the last person is treated.

“Parkland stands ready during this transition to our new facility, as always, to provide vital emergency and trauma services to every patient entrusted to our care,” said Alexander Eastman, MD, Medical Director and Chief of the Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland and Assistant Professor of Surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

In addition to the Trauma Center, Emergency Department and Labor & Delivery, other areas will ramp up operations in the new hospital over a three-day period, including the intensive care units, regional burn center and operating suites. Elective, or scheduled surgeries, have been reduced during the transition although emergent or urgent surgeries are taking place as they arise. Transition of all inpatient services to the new facility will be completed by end of day on Saturday, Aug. 22.

At 7 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, Parkland officials will begin the multi-day process of moving more than 600 hospitalized patients to the new facility. Patients will be transported over the Mike A. Myers Sky Bridge that connects the current and new hospitals. Each patient will be accompanied by a team of healthcare providers.

Dallas County residents who are not experiencing an emergency medical condition are encouraged to seek adult and pediatric acute and primary care services and medication refills at any one of the 12 Community Oriented Primary Care centers. The centers are prepared to receive walk-in patients in an effort to support the hospital move. A list of those clinics can be found at www.parklandhospital.com.

“We have been preparing for this move for well over a year and have challenged ourselves to plan for every possible scenario that could potentially arise,” said Kris Gaw, Parkland’s Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer – Hospital Operations. “The health and safety of each of our patients is paramount, which is why we have gone to great lengths to ensure that they are moved safely to the new hospital.”

To that end, Parkland officials conducted a full-scale mock move in July complete with volunteers serving as “patients” to test the process that will be used when the real move takes place later this week. In addition, Parkland’s Operational Excellence staff conducted multiple mock transition drills over the past several months, beginning in March with simple tabletop exercises, and growing larger and more complex each time.

“You can plan all you want, but until you actually put a process to the test, it is virtually impossible to identify every potential gap,” said John Raish, Vice President of Transformational Initiatives. “These mock transition drills not only helped us refine our process, but they also familiarized our staff and volunteers with how the move will work well before it begins on Aug. 20.”

The new 2.1 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility adds desperately needed space for better delivery of healthcare services to a growing population, particularly in critical areas such as the emergency room, operating room, burn center and neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital includes 862 private patient rooms.

For more information about the new Parkland Memorial Hospital, please visit our website at www.newparklandhospital.com.