10 Years and Growing!
by Bridget Flaherty
Director of Physician Development
Methodist Mansfield Medical Center
There’s a big strapping 10-year-old in Mansfield that’s full of energy and excitement. I’m not talking about a child. I’m talking about Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. I can’t believe that it’s been a decade since the hospital opened its doors to the community. To steal a phrase from a popular movie, “build it and they will come.”
Two years before the hospital’s opening, I was one of the very first employees hired! My job was to begin recruiting physicians. As the facility grew, so did our team. First, the president; then the chief nursing officer, quality director, and human resources director; and then many more were hired. We were off and running.
The small hospital staff worked together in a trailer that was parked on the property. It was fun, exciting — and cozy. Soon we were bursting at the seams, but one characteristic of Methodist Mansfield stood out. It felt and still feels like family.
Getting to build a hospital from the ground up is a special privilege, and I was honored to tell the Methodist Mansfield story. The promise of growth in the hospital and surrounding community, as well as our commitment to our mission — to improve and save lives through compassionate, quality healthcare — was true then just as it is now.
I guess I would sum up the first 10 years of service to the community as growth and expansion. When we opened the doors on December 27, 2006, we had 80 private rooms with capacity to expand to 152. Today we have a second patient care tower and 254 beds to better serve the expanding community. We offer patients some of the latest medical technologies and innovative treatments, as well as dozens of specialties — including four gastroenterology procedure rooms. And we are continuing to grow.
What do we want people to know about Methodist Mansfield? We offer open heart surgery as part of the award-winning cardiology services at the Amon G. Carter Foundation Heart and Vascular Center, and one of our independently practicing neurologists performed Methodist Mansfield’s first craniotomy in November. Our technology includes 3-D mammography and minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery, and plans are underway to acquire the next frontier in robotic technology, the da Vinci Xi® Surgical System. We’re also immersed in the community, working with Mansfield and Midlothian schools to provide sports physicals and echocardiograms for school athletes.
When it comes to quality patient care, we’ve achieved exceptional safety scores and outperformed other hospitals in key quality measures. We strive to provide excellent patient care and continue to be a Best Place to Work by the Dallas Business Journal.
People ask me what it was like then. Because we were few and close-knit, we were nimble and able to move quickly. I remember the excitement I would feel, and still feel today, when a new physician would choose to join the medical staff. And I remember when we started building the hospital our neighbors were a SONIC® drive-in, a fire station, two schools, and a large herd of cattle.
We were fortunate to have a wealth of experienced healthcare professionals who lived in the area but commuted to Fort Worth or Dallas to work. Many of them joined our team and others transferred from our sister hospitals in Dallas. The great news is that we have tenured team members with years of experience, and once you join us you will want to stay. As with all Methodist facilities, it’s our people who make the difference. They keep me here. We’re family.
Ask most employees here, and you’ll find we’re proud to be a part of Methodist Mansfield. In fact, you may hear them say, “WAMM” — our motto, We Are Methodist Mansfield!
If you want to join an innovative, compassionate family of healthcare professionals, consider Methodist Health System. Visit us at jobs.MethodistHealthSystem.org.
Texas law prohibits hospitals from practicing medicine. The physicians on the Methodist Health System medical staff are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, Methodist Health System, or any of its affiliated hospitals.
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