Christus Update: More Hospitals for Sugar Land but NOT Missouri City (at least for now)-
Construction Set To Start This Fall On St. Luke's Hospital In Sugar Land
Real estate sources confirmed on Wednesday persistent rumors that St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System will build a new hospital and medical office building in Sugar Land.
The complex is planned for Lake Pointe Town Center at State Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land. . . .
. . . At the same time other hospitals are expanding here, another health care chain decided to put its plans for a Fort Bend location on hold. Christus Health Gulf Coast had announced plans for a hospital and 80,000-square-foot medical office building in Sienna Plantation. Christus owns 36 acres at the southeast corner of Sienna Parkway and Highway 6.
Christus originally planned to build a 100-bed hospital employing 350 people, and eventually to expand it to add 200 more patient beds and full medical services, according to home builders at Sienna Plantation. Rumors of the St. Luke’s hospital and the Memorial and Methodist projects caused Christus to rethink the timing of the project, a Christus official said.
Christus is downsizing, Kircher said, and the decision to hold off on the Sienna Plantation project may be more of a reflection of the company than the market. In March, Christus announced the sale of the historic Houston Christus St. Joseph Hospital to Hospital Partners of America in Charlotte, N.C. . .
(Click link above and check out earlier threads for update on this issue)
_________________
CRD Comment- With Hermann moving and Christus on permanent hold who will provide health care in an emergency here in the Arcola-Mo-City-Fresno-Stafford areas, like last years Rita scare (travel time to SL and hwy 59 3-4 hours)???
posted by responsible_dvlpmnt at Thursday, May 25, 2006
11 Comments:
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Earlier story on this:
Christus Puts Hospital Plans On Ice At Sienna Plantation
by Bob Dunn, Wednesday April 12, 2006
Uncertainty in the medical marketplace has caused Christus Health Gulf Coast to put plans on hold for a hospital and 80,000-square-foot medical office building in Sienna Plantation.
Formed in 1999 as a result of the merger of two Catholic charities, Christus had plans last summer to build a 100-bed hospital employing 350 people, and eventually to expand it to add 200 more patient beds and full medical services, according to home builders at Sienna Plantation.
Groundbreaking originally was expected this year. But Christus now has put plans on hold to review changes in the marketplace, and hasn’t yet decided on when the project will proceed or whether it will be built as originally conceived, said Julia Fetzer, Christus regional vice president for planning and development.
“We’re reviewing it every few months,” she said of the project and the rapidly changing medical scene in Fort Bend County.
Among other things, Christus has heard rumors that St. Lukes intends to locate a hospital in Sugar Land.
And Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, a $93 million, 220,000-square-foot project, broke ground a year ago at the northwest corner of the U.S. 59 – Grand Parkway intersection. The Methodist Hospital system also is expanding in the county.
“We take a look at all of them,” Fetzer said of potential competing medical projects. “What the issue is, what the opportunity is, what the threat is.”
Christus owns 36 acres at the southeast corner of Sienna Parkway and Highway 6, the site for its proposed hospital. Fetzer said the healthcare organization has an agreement, running through 2008, with Siennta Plantation allowing Christus to be the only hospital services provider in the community.
However, she said the fact the agreement runs through 2008 would have no bearing on the timing of the hospital project.
Christus recently agreed to sell its Christus St. Joseph Hospital in downtown Houston to Hospital Partners of America, of Charlotte, N.C. The deal is expected to close in June.
FBN threaded comments:
1 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 02:06 pm
Some questions that should be asked about this indefinite hospital postponement and cancellation of the construction start:
-Why has it taken several months for the news to be released to the public? Christus apparently knew about this since the end of last year and the developers (Owen’s #2 contributor over the last 5 years) claim they’ve known since February and only released it on the Sienna internal website, which the rest of Missouri City doesn’t have access too, two weeks ago.
-Why was this critical information not released in a timely manner by our mayor and council so that the public could be protected and make appropriate healthcare choices in our community? Especially considering the hoopla last year when the Mayor and developer took bows for “bringing it here” and using it as one justification for the up to 2700 apartments injected into our neighborhood and city.
-Is the council now going to reconsider the Johnson Development apartments that will negatively impact our community?
-Is the city and our developer going to change their habit of not keeping the public informed on critical issues like this?
-What are residents going to do during events like Rita without a local hospital Mr. Mayor?
-etc. . .
2 Matthew Feinberg - Apr 12, 06:40 pm
Why is there still a sign on Sienna Pky saying the hospital is comming soon? Isn’t that a little misleading?
3 John Armstrong - Apr 12, 06:57 pm
Well, I don’t know this ‘Miss Leading’ person that Matthew is referring to but, must be the same spoke person for the 2700 apartments.
4 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 07:25 pm
Matthew,
How about the name on the blvd. next to the indefinitely postponed hospital, Sienna-Christus. Oh here’s some interesting news. The developer, through our developer controlled HOA board (known as the SPRAI) in coordination with our Sienna schools, is hosting a candidates meeting here in SP on April 24th. Apparently it has been reported that questions will be taken from the community beforehand and given to the candidates (no open mic questions?). A very controlled event. A group calling themselves “Concerned Parents of FB County” jointly headed up by an SJD developer employee is helping with this event. Does this group qualify as a legitimate grass-roots group or a subverted developer PAC?
I wonder who our developer is backing in this one? I better check those contribution reports. You know they backed the former incumbent (Mr. Bain) whose seat is now open. Some of the candidates have sworn-off this funding. So far they are Steve Dieu, Liz Mitton, Rodrigo Carreon. I wonder if Smelley and some of the others will take the pledge on this one.
It would be nice to see more candidates take this oath (no out of area special interest funding or vendor funding or gifts in kind). Of course if too many take this oath the political-industry may be in trouble. Honesty hurts, right?
5 maized&cornfused - Apr 12, 09:50 pm
The Concerned parents group is just that. Not all of the parents are from Sienna. There have been other “meet the canidate” events/opportunities posted on their site the SJD is not the first. I don’t know why it shouldn’t be considered a grass roots efforts is there a certain criteria?
Please give these parents some credit for trying to make the schools better. I don’t a see conspiracy and if there is one I am sure Bob will report about it-so will you on your website.
6 MoCityResident - Apr 13, 05:53 am
I have to throw my two cents in on this one. What the hell are so many residents in this area going to do without emergency care and for how long?
7 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 13, 07:03 am
Well maized, the problem comes when the SJD employee who participates/leads this group presents before the school board incomplete information. For example, at a recent board meeting discussing the zoning and over-crowding issues at Baines MS, this SJD employee used developer generated data to emphasize their points and counter the districts data. During this presentation the SJD employee (PTO president and one of the leaders of this CPFB group) left out, misinformed, the real data on the zoning buster up to 2700 apartments being brought here, which her employer pushed on this community against popular consent. Not only was that information withheld (a conflict of interest) they didn’t mention that this area has more multi-family coming in the South Sienna area (further complicating the zoning picture).
All the facts should be presented as well as the relationships pointed out. I believe you maized are using the word “conspiracy” selectively for a purpose. I would suggest using a word like political-business relationships. The interplay of words does impact how a story is viewed and I think Bob, in this story on the hospital (and most of his work), is much more balanced than what we are used to in this community. If you view his intro video available here on the site you will see how he reduces and feels about the impact of ad pressure on reporting, which is a well documented fact in the research literature.
8 - - Apr 13, 12:27 pm
Bob,
What does this mean below? Do you have anymore information on this statement:
“Fetzer said the healthcare organization has an agreement, running through 2008, with Siennta Plantation allowing Christus to be the only hospital services provider in the community.”
9 Bob Dunn - Apr 13, 02:17 pm
My understanding is that until 2008, Christus has the exclusive right to build a hospital at Sienna.
I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.
10 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 23, 03:23 pm
“I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.” Bob D.
Apparently Hermann Hospital in Mo-City owns the current hospital and building. At the April Missouri City Council session it was announced that Hermann will not lease out the old hospital building as a future hospital. Combine this with the competition limiting agreement above and post-ponement, we see a community being put at health risk because two Houston area hospitals want to limit area competition.
Something is wrong here and why aren’t our local officials doing anything about it, with hurricane season approaching? Well Mr. Owen?
11 Mary McClure - May 23, 05:23 pm
Christus said the hurricane was the reason for the postponement. Is Owen responsible for the hurricane? If you are so anxious for the hospital, don’t you know almost every hospital needs apts. for residents, etc.?
12 Mary McClure - May 23, 08:28 pm
...excuse me, I meant hurricanes (plural) and one of the reasons, not the reason—based on something I read.
13 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 06:28 am
The point of the post may have been missed. This community very soon will be entering the hurricane season with an indefintely post-poned hospital and one that is closing. Lack of planning didn’t seem to be a concern of the Mayor in announcing the new hospital start date, but they did take their time letting the public know when that date had been cancelled.
Since many families in this area including Fresno, Arcola, Stafford, Missouri City, etc. rely on the current hospital it is the public health that is at risk now. The public had a right to know so they can make plans for emergencies. The developers, the city and the hospitals were involved in this deal as per the Developers Agreement and are obligated to keep the public informed on these issues (especially our elected officials)!
14 Rubikees - May 24, 08:27 am
True Dr. Calvin, the worse part of the whole thing is that I really do not think our officials are ready for a Katrina type storm cutting through this area. One thing people have overlooked besides the storm surge is that up north the Conroe and Livingston dams were damaged by Rita and have not been fully repaired yet. Think the unthinkable and with Conroe’s outflow entering Lake Houston… This worse case scenario in a metro area of over 2 million could be far larger than the Katrina crisis.
15 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 09:15 am
Rubikees,
I know Rita & Katrina, along with the Houston floods a few years ago from just a tropical storm would have kept our public officials more vigilant and willing to be more transparent, but it seems obvious from recent events that taking care of their cronies is what matters most. The public must fend for themselves I guess. In the community in which I reside they still only have one major exit out of here and it dumps onto the clogged evacuation route on hwy 6. Not much of an option if we’re poorly informed. . .
16 Mary McClure - May 24, 10:35 am
In Sienna, I can exit off these roads: Trammel Fresno (sp?), Watts Plantation, and McKeever (maybe more I don’t know about). Last time I looked there was a bridge past Sienna Crossing off the jogging path for pedestrian evacuation (I assume) also. At an update mtg. I attended, it was stated emergency services would be available at both Christus and Memorial Hermann despite the hospital postponement (from my understanding).
17 Mary McClure - May 24, 11:07 am
Excuse me, ...& of course, I can exit off the main parkway also! Btw, these roads are on the right side (exiting Sienna) off the pkwy. by the main entrance.
18 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 11:16 am
“At an update mtg. I attended, it was stated emergency services would be available at both Christus and Memorial Hermann despite the hospital postponement (from my understanding).”
That would be quite a trick if Hermann at hwy6 is closed and Christus hasn’t broken ground. You may want to check the information source on that again (if it’s the one I’m thinking of).
As for the one exit out of Sienna, only Sienna Pkwy until you get to McKeever Rd (nothing out of South Sienna, since the road isn’t finished). Last year during the Rita scare the service road exit wasn’t posted until the day before. If anyone had taken it they would have found a road block South on 521 and would have had to turn around back to hwy 6. Additionally all the roads mentioned in your post end up on the same hurricane evacuation route that was backed up all day. Not a plausible plan, nor very confidence inspiring and at least, in this scenario, there is still no nearby hospital.
Try again.
19 Sienna Resident - May 24, 12:53 pm
Mary, all of those roads dump onto 6…a major evacuation route. During the Rita evacuation, it took 90 minutes to get from Sienna to Oilfield Road. We are not in horrible shape, by any means. However, as we grow with more homes and apartments, that will create additional congestion.
20 Mary McClure - May 24, 02:27 pm
From my understanding, per the update mtg., Hermann was to keep the E.R. open & Christus was going to have the E.R. before the hospital. At the update mtg., they said they were working on more roads. If more people attended the update meetings which all residents are welcome to, they would be better informed.
21 eddie - May 24, 03:00 pm
I watched people give up trying to leave all day on those routes during the hurricane. We have family members with chronic illness that need a short ride to the hospital, not a 3 or 4 hour attempt. If someone is having a critical event in this area and they have to go all the way to 59, well good luck!
22 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 04:33 pm
Well first you have to trust the source of the information and second none of that is confirmed in the April & May ‘06 council sessions.
The source you mention also claimed they’ve known since February but never released it to the media so that the public would know. Thanks to sites like this we were able to get the truth out.
Try again!
23 Bob Dunn - May 24, 05:25 pm
If you’re interested in local hospital developments, you may want to take a look at this, about St. Luke’s hospital coming in to Lake Pointe Town Center at 59 and Route 6.
There’s just a tad of new information about the Christus project, also.
24 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 05:47 pm
Thanks for the update Bob, it looks like there is going to be a glut of hospitals near the Sugar Land/59 area.
More FBN Comments:
1 Mary McClure - May 24, 08:58 pm
Good info for people to know. Some in Mo. City may want to know this as Memorial Hermann is closing its hospital there, yet keeping the ER open and Christus will have an ER regardless of the hospital being postponed (from my understanding of what was said at a residential update mtg.).
A credible insider who shall remain nameless sent me this re: Memorial Hermann in Mo. City and concerns re: health care during hurricane season:
“Might be interesting for people to know-Memorial Hospital locked its
door during the storm. They were not here during the last storm. So
nothing is new. That building would be damaged as would any others in
the area. It was designed years ago and was not designed to withstand
the type of storm we could have had. There were plans in place to use
other facilities that might not have been damaged. All of these
conditions are taken into place during our planning exercises.”
2 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 25, 05:12 am
So what, your unnamed and JDC sources are telling you is that because Christus is indefintely post-poned and Hermann didn’t open their doors during the last scare, is that we will have no hospital in another emergency event like last year?
Of course, I guess, the new hospital could open up a tent on the vacant property and run a MASH like unit, . . .right? . . . ;-}
Still no hospital here within reasonable distance with backed up roads (hurricane evac. route hwy 6 and 1 primary exit onto it) in Sienna!
Sorry it doesn’t sell, not for my family and not for the Arcola, Stafford, Fresno & Mo-City families that will have to fight hours worth of traffic to get to the 59 Sugar Land hospitals.
Keep asking your sources, maybe they’ll come up with a hospital . . . ;-}
See http://www.fortbendnow.com/business/989/christus-health-puts-sienna-plantation-hospital-plans-on-hold
..for the earlier threads running on this and background!
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More FBN thread:
4 Mary McClure - May 25, 07:37 am
...btw, I did not ask my source. My source came to me.
5 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 25, 08:53 am
“From my understanding, per the update mtg., Hermann was to keep the E.R. open & Christus was going to have the E.R. before the hospital. At the update mtg., they said they were working on more roads.” MM
“At an update mtg. I attended, it was stated emergency services would be available at both Christus and Memorial Hermann despite the hospital postponement (from my understanding).” MM
Christus said the hurricane was the reason for the postponement. Is Owen responsible for the hurricane? If you are so anxious for the hospital, don’t you know almost every hospital needs apts. for residents, etc.? MM
“Probably stronger buildings, not a “tent”. Thx for putting the other article URL up, so my posts can be read there. To my knowledge, my other source and JDC have never blatantly lied..” MM
So MM which is it? The article above directly quotes the hospital sources as stating they have indefinitely postponed the hospital because of market issues (down-sizing), not the hurricane (as you contend) or the doctor’s survey as the developers contended in an earlier internal release, but your mysterious developer/other sources now are stating they will have an ER before the hospital? (I’ve never seen such a hospital plan so you will pardon me if I don’t celebrate). You also state that Hermann will operate their ER after they are closed, but then you post that they weren’t open during the Rita event last year. Which is it MM? Your starting to sound more like your “sources” everyday (i.e. remember the airport expansion – road diversion post?). The truth is we have no hospital scheduled for this area after Hermann closes. You can continue to defend the developers, Mayor Owen and anyone else you like, but the fact is that they announced the construction date last year for winter ’06 (which has passed) and we have no adequate health care for this area and no amount of PR spin (from your sources) is going to change this. Simply state this is the case and then move on, or help pressure the powers that be (your new friends) into a real solution as well as getting this information out to the public (rather than with-holding it as was done in April).
I want to thank FortBendNow.com for going to the sources and getting as accurate information on this as is possible. I would like to encourage M to get her story straight and not add to the misinformation now circulating the Missouri City community on this. It is a disservice to your family and mine as well as those in this area.
Some more lawyer jokes for JK & friends:
Why do they bury lawyers 27 feet under?
'Cuz deep, deep down, they're good people!
What's the difference between a Catfish and a lawyer?
One is a scum sucking bottom dweller, and the other is a fish.
Why does California have the most lawyers and New Jersey the most toxic waste dumps?
New Jersey had first pick.
. . . =- ]
It's a communist plot that all the hospitals are coming to Sugar Land and not Missouri City.
Try another term like fascist plot. That seems to fit. Even dictators have information departments that control information release and spin. I can suggest some excellent history texts if you'd like to read up. . . =-/
Just in case anyone missed the JK & associates jokes:
Some more lawyer jokes for JK & friends:
Why do they bury lawyers 27 feet under?
'Cuz deep, deep down, they're good people!
What's the difference between a Catfish and a lawyer?
One is a scum sucking bottom dweller, and the other is a fish.
Why does California have the most lawyers and New Jersey the most toxic waste dumps?
New Jersey had first pick.
. . . ; - >
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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