Editor’s Note: The following is the third and final article in a series on services, resources, facilities and personnel at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in its 10-year anniversary in Marble Falls.
After a decade of service, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, Marble Falls, not only saved thousands of lives personnel redefined accessible over the years, but medical healthcare for the Highland Lakes.
Just five years ago, officials overcame one of the most expansive challenges and rebounded to become an even more critical facility.
“There was a time in the COVID world whether we were going to have enough providers to make obstetric continue to work here,” said Timothy Ols, president of Baylor Scott & White Hill Country Region. “We have committed to that.”
The facility was the first in the Highland Lakes to offer obstetrics and baby delivery services. Prior to that, families would travel to Georgetown, Austin or Lakeway for such services.
For a moment post-pandemic, officials mulled
shuttering the baby delivery services but then found a way to continue the local service.
“We have a good solid group of folks who are taking care of those patients and will continue to do that going on,” Ols said. “We’re sort of the western boundary to the greater Austin market, so you start going farther west of here and the access to women’s healthcare goes down pretty significantly.
“We really saw our role as one to continue to take care of the community and especially with that population that just doesn’t have the option as you head farther west.
Ols offered more insight into progress of the medical complex in the northwest corner of the U.S. 281/Texas 71 intersection.
Q: What are the direction and longterm plans for the medical center?
A: “The hospital is going to continue to grow with the community. Our CT scanner, the one that is outside of the building on a truck this year, we have a project to be able to move that inside of the hospital, so we’ll have our two CT scanners inside the facility here which is desperately needed for us.
“For the longterm, our health system is really focused on how we can help our customers – how we can be more customer-centric. How we can help empower them to take care of their healthcare.”
Q: What is the primary focus for patients?
A: “A lot of what we’re doing is trying to help folks get to the physicians they need when they need them, get the results they need when they need it, be able to communicate with their providers whether its at the clinic or online and help them manage their care.
“It’s a lot of work outside of the walls of the hospital. That will continue as we try to be even more user friendly and more patient-centered.”
Q: How has the community responded in the past decade?
A: “We’re very thankful for our community and all the support we get. We’ve got a great loyal base of customers. We’ve got a lot of community members who have invested their personal incomes into our facility.
“Our fundraising efforts to help us have been very strong, lots of different groups, lots of different donors. That really makes a difference because every penny that folks invest in Baylor Scott & White – Marble Falls or any of our local clinics 100% of that stays local.
“We do our very best to make sure we keep meeting the needs of our community. Our community keeps rising up to say, ‘How can we help.’” Q: What do you see as the facility’s role in the community?
A: “We’re part of big not-for-profit system in Texas. We see us as being the hospital for this community, and the community members see this as their hospital. I think we’ve had a great relationship and expect that to continue into the future.”
Baylor Scott and White – Marble Falls is located at 810 Texas 71 West. Visit bswhealth.com or call 830-201-8000.
