News Releases

Grand Opening Celebration at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital
Saturday, February 8, 2003

$78 million patient tower offers high level infant care and other family-centered medical services

The Woodlands, Texas, February 8, 2003 -- Nearly two years after construction began, the grand opening of a new 168-bed patient tower at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital was marked today with festivities and behind-the-scenes tours for the general public. The $78 million, seven-story structure is designed around a theme of family-centered care, with expanded private rooms that provide comfortable accommodations for family members.

Among the medical and surgical patient care facilities is a surgery center containing eight state-of-the-art surgery suites for both emergency and elective procedures. From routine X-rays to cardiac catheterizations and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans, the new patient tower offers a host of diagnostic services, along with cancer, rehabilitation, women's, pediatric and emergency care. Medical staff in the Level II and Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) are trained to care for infants as young as 28 weeks gestation. A Family Birth Center houses 34 birthing suites and offers single-room maternity care - complete mother-baby care in a single room.

All rooms throughout the facility are equipped with Internet access and each floor offers a spacious family gathering area featuring comfortable lounges. Soothing colors and artwork throughout the hospital promote a healing environment.

"It has truly been an honor for Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital to serve the health care needs of our area families for the past 18 years," said Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital CEO Steve Sanders. "This expansion is our gift to the community and one that will allow us the space and technology to continue providing the fine health care every family deserves and has come to expect."

The new patient tower officially opens to patients Feb. 15. It is part of an ongoing $420 million expansion of hospitals throughout Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, designed to meet growing patient demand.

The Feb. 8 grand opening was billed as "a community celebration," with food, entertainment, giveaways and prizes, hospital tours, free health screenings as well as a bike rodeo, kids' puppet show, tours of a Life Flight helicopter, ambulance and fire truck and much more.

For more information, contact Media Relations.