Parkland Memorial Hospital
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Public |
| Hospital type | General and Teaching |
| Affiliated university | UT-Southwestern Medical Center |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Level I trauma center |
| Beds | 968 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1894 |
| Links | |
| Website | home page |
| Lists | Hospitals in Texas |
Parkland Memorial Hospital is a hospital located at 5201 Harry Hines Boulevard, just west of Oak Lawn in Dallas, Texas (USA).
Contents |
[edit] History
The original hospital opened in 1894 on a 17-acre (69,000 m2) meadow located at Oak Lawn Avenue and Maple. The name Parkland came from the land on which the hospital was built, originally purchased by the city as a park. [1] In 1954, it moved to its current location, about a mile from the original site.
[edit] JFK Assassination
Parkland is best-known as the hospital where three individuals associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy died: Kennedy, his alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby, the killer of Oswald. After he was shot on Friday, November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1 p.m in Trauma Room 1. At the same time, Texas Governor John Connally, wounded in the same shooting, was being treated in Trauma Room 2. Two days after the assassination, Oswald was rushed to Parkland after being shot by Ruby, and died in Trauma Room 2, where Connally had been treated. Coincidentally, Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism at Parkland on January 3, 1967. Since 1963, the emergency room has been remodeled. However, a plaque marks the spot where President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby had died.
[edit] Capabilities
Parkland is the only publicly supported hospital in Dallas County; funds are primarily provided by a specially designated property tax on Dallas County residents.
Parkland serves as one of the area's three Level 1 Trauma centers, operates one of a handful of burn units in the entire state (where the leading burns-resuscitation formula in use worldwide was developed.
Parkland serves as both a primary care center for Dallas County residents, and (along with UT Southwestern) as a medical and surgical referral center for North Texas and parts of Southern Oklahoma. Thus, virtually all medical and surgical subspecialties are represented—which makes Parkland a destination for post-graduate medical training.
At 968 licensed beds, Parkland ranks among the largest teaching hospitals in the nation.Texas Woman's University began it's nursing clinical training program at Parkland in 1954. Parkland also serves as the major teaching hospital of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
It has the distinction of delivering more infants under one roof than any other hospital in the nation, averaging 15-16,000 deliveries per year. Parkland created one of the first high-risk antenatal units in the nation, and had the first neonatal intensive care unit in North Texas.
Parkland is also the base for Biotel, the medical direction system used by Dallas Fire-Rescue and most of the other fire departments in Dallas County.
[edit] Controversy
Since Parkland is a public hospital, it must accept patients from Dallas County regardless of their ability to pay. As such, uninsured residents from surrounding counties that do not have public hospitals of their own (and which are not subject to the special property tax used for Parkland operations) regularly seek treatment at Parkland. These surrounding counties actually transport indigent and uninsured patients to Parkland in county owned ambulances and drop them off. This has caused financial turmoil for the hospital in recent years, as the surrounding counties are not required by law to reimburse Parkland for services provided to their residents (though some of them have on rare occasions done so). Also, Parkland does not request information on a patient's legal status.
Parkland Memorial has nine prenatal clinics and employs 72 doctors training to become obstetricians-gynecologists and 45 nurse-midwives. In 2005 the staff delivered 15,590 babies, an average of more than 42 infants per day.[2]
A patient survey indicated 70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were undocumented immigrants.[3]. The yearly tally for 2005 was "at least 56%".[4]
[edit] New Facility
On November 4, 2008 Dallas County voters approved the $747 million proposition to allow 60 percent of Dallas county tax payer money and 40 percent of private donations to fund the new Parkland Memorial Hospital building. The facility will increase its bed capacity to 862 from 675 beds. The board approved nearly $100 million in contracts and hired two architectural firms – HDR Architecture and Corgan Associates Inc. – to design the new building. Corgan is based in Dallas, and HDR is based in Omaha, Neb., but has a large office in Dallas. The hospital is set to be completed in 2014. In addition to Dallas County tax payers funding the public hospital, large private donations were made as well.[5]
Annette and Harold Simmons and their family contributed a $50 million challenge grant that was contingent on the Parkland Foundation raising $100 million for the project over the next five years.
The foundation of Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones pledged an additional $25 million, contingent on the passage of the proposition in Dallas County on election day. Trevor Rees-Jones is the President and CEO of Chief Oil and Gas, based out of Dallas, Texas. The Rees-Jones Foundation[4] was created in 2006 to provide support and funding for programs that will help improve the quality of life for the underserved people of North Texas.
Mr. Rees-Jones said, "We're interested in helping folks who are less fortunate than others and who are suffering in various ways. Without Parkland, these people would be distributed to hospitals throughout the area." He also went on to say, "They rebuild a hospital like this every 60 years or so. I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the creation of a new Parkland."[6]
Other major contributions include:
- $1.5 million: Nexen Petroleum USA
- $1.25 million: Parkland Auxiliary
- 1.25 million: Hirsh Family Foundation
- $100,000 each: Balfour Beatty/Shari and Eric Krueger, Boone Family Foundation, Theodore and Annette Strauss Foundation/Nancy and Jeremy Halbreich, Mike A. Myers, Joan and Alan Walne, Vin & Caren Prothro Foundation and one anonymous donor.
- $50,000 each: Sue and Dr. Ron J. Anderson, Joann and John Dragovits, Cynthia and David Krause, Susie and T. Hardie, John Haupert, Linda and Dalton Lott, and the Ruth C. & Charles S. Sharp Foundation.
- The campaign has also raised $369,525 from board members, the hospital board of managers, staff and individuals.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ DallasNews.com: Hidden History of Dallas (1876-1900). Retrieved 12 September 2006.
- ^ Dallas Morning News
- ^ Two June 2006 articles in the Dallas Morning News
- ^ New York Times
- ^ Jacobson, Sherry (2008-11-05). "Voters OK $747M for new Parkland hopspital". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2008-12-15. [1]
- ^ Jacobson, Sherry (2008-09-10). "Parkland hospital kicks off its capital campaign with big donor support". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2008-12-15.[2]
- ^ Miller, Robert (2008-12-07) "Big donors to get naming rights at new Parkland Hospital". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-12-15.[3]
[edit] External links
- Official web page
- U.S. News & World Report: Directory of America's Hospitals: Parkland Memorial Hospital
- JFK Assassination Tour: Parkland Memorial Hospital
- Historical TV Footage from Dallas TV Station KDFW Exclusive television coverage -- most from the KRLD -TV/KDFW Collection at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Dallas Morning News: Hidden History of Dallas: Parkland Memorial Hospital
