Wearing a purple “check your colon” T-shirt as a nod to her recent cancer treatment, Rebeca Clay-Flores greeted a large crowd on Wednesday under a big white tent at a construction site on the city’s South Side.
She told the story of her first days as Bexar County Commissioner of Precinct 1 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commissioner called George Hernandez, who was at that time the CEO of University Health, asking for two things: how to get vaccines for her constituents and then when and how to get a hospital built on the South Side.
Her precinct is home to the Toyota plant, Joint Base San Antonio, Port San Antonio, Texas A&M University-San Antonio and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.
Ed Banos, who took over as University Health’s CEO last year after Hernandez retired, said Clay-Flores was serious about building a full-service hospital on the South Side.
“She kept telling me, ‘On time, on budget and get it open,” Banos said on at a topping out ceremony for University Health Palo Alto Hospital, which is set to open in 2027.
For years, there were only two hospitals located in the bottom third portion of the county, plus a few freestanding ERs. But the situation grew more dire in 2023 when Texas Vista Medical Center, formerly Southwest General Hospital, closed permanently.
Together a large group of hospital officials, builders and community members watched as the final beam, with fresh signatures marked in blue permanent marker, was hoisted by a 200-foot crane and placed on what will become the building’s fifth floor.
The new hospital and its attached medical office building will be on the same campus as University Health Vida, a multi-specialty health center and new headquarters for the University Health Institute for Public Health, which will open later this year.
“We’re not just building a hospital,” Clay-Flores said. “We’re building the opportunity for better access to health care.”
Clay-Flores shared earlier this year that she’s recovering from colon cancer surgery. At the event, she said that the new hospital means that she, and her constituents, will no longer have to drive a far distance for medical care.
She remembers having to get a ride to a medical appointment soon after her surgery.
“I could barely walk. I could feel every single bump in the road,” she said. “The difference of traveling 40 minutes versus 10 minutes for post-care is really life-changing.”
The new Palo Alto hospital is actually a twin of a new hospital being built on the far Northeast Side of the county called University Health Retama, said Brian Freeman, vice president of capital improvement and real estate for University Health.
Once open, both hospitals will be able to offer comprehensive medical care, including labor and delivery services. More complex patient cases would most likely be transferred to University Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center, which is designated a Level 1 trauma center.
The Palo Alto one is a little further behind schedule, Freeman said, because it took longer to install needed infrastructure such as stormwater management, power and gas to the campus. He said CPS Energy was a great partner in getting through the early construction stage.
Turner Construction Co., along with joint venture partners Byrne Construction and Straight Line Management, is working on both hospital projects.
Banos said the Palo Alto hospital will soon employ about 1,000 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care professionals and support staff.
This article was originally published by Laura Garcia for the San Antonio Report.