Vanguard Health Systems, the parent company of the Baptist Health System here in San Antonio, along with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has signed a letter intent to lease 18 acres of for a new state-of-the-art children's hospital.
"It really gives us an opportunity to have a hospital in a place where the patients can be served by the doctors at the university both from a clinical care point of view and a research point of view," said Dr. David Siegel, with the Baptist Health System in San Antonio. "We think it's a great location."
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Liz Tullis' son, Conrad, was 17 months old when he had an accident that left him with severe brain damage.
Tullis' son is now 10, but ever since the accident, she says they've been in and out of doctor's offices.
"We'll see a specialist that we are talking about his hip, another specialist talking about seizure activity," she said. "Then we'll see another specialist about his nutrition and his growth."
Tullis said that's why she is excited about the new children's hospital that will be built in the Medical Center.
She said it will make it easier for doctors to work together and make it easier on families.
"The sharing of information, the sharing of facilities, not having to repeat paperwork over and over again," said Tullis. "Or, if I have seen one specialist, they can access those records or those files. That's huge."
The hospital, which will be located just west of the intersection of Hamilton Wolfe and Floyd Curl, is being built to serve the sickest children.
The UT Health Science Center will provide pediatric care, as well as cutting-edge research.
"That's an exciting thing to do," said Dr. Steven Neish, with the UT Health Science Center's Department of Pediatrics. "Something that hasn't been done before in a community that has a need for something that would really transform the ability for us to take care of kids and for families to actually access care in the community."
"It means that cutting edge research will be done here in San Antonio," said Dr. William Henrich, UT Health Science Center President. "We believe and most everyone believes that this makes the clinical care which is delivered better."
Vanguard is scheduled to break ground in early 2014.
The hospital is expected to open sometime in 2016.
For a list of recent stories Stephanie Serna has done, click here.