Cook Children's Medical Center in Prosper officially opens
PROSPER, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Families in the northern part of the metroplex will no longer have to drive all the way to Dallas or Fort Worth for certain pediatric specialists or in-patient hospital stays.
Cook Children's Medical Center – Prosper officially opened on Monday.
The healthcare system broke ground on the 23-acre campus, located on U.S. 380 at the Denton-Collin County line, about three and half years ago.
Staff saw their first patients come through the emergency room doors on Monday.
"Our inpatient services are open as well, so it's an exciting day," said Kevin Greene, VP and administrator of Cook Children's Medical Center – Prosper.
The medical center combines emergency are, specialty clinics, outpatient surgeries, and inpatient treatment all under one roof.
"Families have all those different services here on one campus and no longer have to drive to Fort Worth or Dallas," Greene said. "They have it right here in their backyard."
After 105 years with one hospital in Fort Worth, Cook Children's decided to open a second full-service medical center in the fast-growing northern region of the state.
"This is really about the next 105 years, what that means," he said. "There's a quarter of a million kids in our service area now, which is going to grow to half a million."
The expansion comes at a critical time. Cook Children's saw unprecedented demand and extraordinary wait times this past fall, during a surge of viral illnesses.
"So we'll be working closely with our main campus in Fort Worth at those moments if they are full, we can work together to bring those kiddos out here or vice versa," said Greene. "So it's definitely a win-win for the community."
The Prosper medical center currently has 10 beds in its emergency department. Cook Children's expects to add another 10 over the next several months.