HOUSTON (Sept. 25, 2023) — Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital leadership and supporters recently celebrated the completion of nearly 89,000 square feet of major improvements and renovations to the hospital’s emergency department within the Ginni and Richard Mithoff Trauma Center. The 45-month project began in November 2019 and touched most of the hospital’s first floor.
“What this major renovation at Ben Taub Hospital is allowing us to do, in addition to having a shiny new place for our patients, is taking care of our patients with the dignity, privacy, high-quality care and the safety they deserve when they come to us,” says Esmaeil Porsa, MD, president and CEO, Harris Health. “This is truly a labor of love for all of us.”
The $48.5 million project increased treatment space by 10%, created more private spaces and treatment rooms, purchased new equipment and reconfigured services and care areas to better serve patient needs. The revamped space now has 104 treatment rooms, 86 emergency rooms, 13 psychiatric rooms and five resuscitation ‘shock’ rooms. Renovations were completed in 12 phases and allowed staff to continue serving the community’s emergency and trauma care needs without interruption—even through the COVID pandemic.
“We get to see a brand-new healing environment that matches the level of care that we at Ben Taub Hospital have always provided,” says Glorimar Medina, MD, executive vice president and administrator, Ben Taub Hospital. “That means that our patients get state-of-the-art equipment and plenty of space to get better while we take care of them.”
Funding for the project involved a combination of support from Harris Health’s operational budget and about $40 million from the Harris County Hospital District Foundation’s 2nd Capital Campaign and other restricted Foundation grants.
Ben Taub Hospital is one of two Level 1 adult trauma hospitals in greater Houston and Harris County. Each year, the hospital sees about 74,000 emergency and 6,000 trauma cases. In May, the hospital celebrated its 60th anniversary of service through its original building that opened in 1963 and its current structure on the same campus that opened in 1990.