Hospital celebrates opening

When Gary Newsome came to town for the dedication of two new floors at Midwest Regional Medical Center's Mulinix Tower Aug. 5, it was more than the obligatory walk-through and photo opportunity by the top dog at the hospital's parent company.

Newsome, president and CEO of Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates Inc., served as CEO at MWRMC from 1996 to 1998. Prior to coming to Midwest City, he was at an HMA-owned hospital in Durant.

"My family has many fond memories of living here," Newsome said.

The same year Newsome joined the hospital, the Midwest City Council agreed to lease the facility to HMA for $40 million. Interest from that sum was designated for award grants to local organizations. During his tenure at the hospital, the Oklahoma Regional Heart Pavilion expanded, adding a second cath lab, as well as the staff and technology required to do echocardiography and intravascular ultrasound procedures.

Since the late 1990s, the hospital has continued to grow in brick-and-mortar facilities and health care offerings, but none on the scale of the two floors added to the hospital tower. The new seventh floor is dedicated entirely to cardiac care, while the eighth floor will house additional patient rooms.

"This hospital has been a premier provider of cardiac services for many years," Newsome said. "Dedicating this floor to cardiac services was the right thing to do for this community."

DEDICATION SITUATION
Newsome was joined by community leaders, hospital staff and doctors to dedicate the two new floors.

MWRMC Market CEO Page Vaughan and CEO Stan Holm were beaming like proud parents as they invited visitors and dignitaries to walk around, kick the tires and see how aesthetically pleasing the new floor was, in addition to housing a state-of-the-art cardiac unit.

"Isn't this great?" Vaughan said.

But the people who really need the floor to be functional and comfortable are the doctors and their cardiac patients.

Asim Chohan has been a cardiologist at MWRMC for 10 years. He had a blunt assessment of the upgrade from the dated and cramped third floor to the new digs on the seventh floor.

"It's like going from Motel 6 to the Ritz," he said. "This is very upscale in every aspect."

The 51-bed addition on the seventh floor is called the Oklahoma Regional Heart Institute. Vaughan said when looking at the best use for the hospital's two new floors it was clear that the cardiac unit was in need of an upgrade. While doctors still worked with the latest technology, they were in cramped quarters and small patient rooms. The new floor plan provides wide hallways, ample space in the patient rooms for both patients and family members to be comfortable, and a larger space for nurses and doctors to work.

With room to move around, Chohan said doctors will be able to perform some procedures like ultrasounds and stress tests right there on the seventh floor, where before, patients sometimes had to be moved to other floors for additional procedures.

For the hospital's cardiologists, the upgrade has been a long time coming."It's a morale booster for us," Chohan said. "We have been asking for better facilities for our patients."

SPECIAL TOUCHES
In addition to making patients comfortable, Chohan said many benefit from having their family members at their side through their treatment. In each patient room comfortable chairs have been added, rollaway beds are available, and little touches like padding along the windows allow for additional seating.

"Family comfort is very important," Chohan said.

The $25 million hospital expansion project began in May 2009. Through a loan from the city, HMA will pay the city back at a rate of about $350,000 per year.

Mulinix Tower, named for former hospital CEO William D. Mulinix, was built in 1986. In 1988, two additional floors were added; the same year, the name was changed to Midwest City Regional Hospital. In 1993, two additional floors were added.

The hospital was founded in 1962 as Midwest City Memorial Hospital with 70 beds. In the hospital's 21-year history of cardiac care, cardiologists can boast several milestones, including being the first hospital in the Oklahoma City metro area to perform a cardiac stent procedure. Rich Wilmoth has led the department throughout its history.

OWNED OPERATION
HMA owns and operates hospitals and clinics in the southeast and southwest United States in mainly non-urban areas. In addition to MWRMC, the company owns the Midwest Rehab and the Renaissance Women's Center, both in Midwest City, and the Medical Center of Southeastern Oklahoma in Durant.

Chohan had no complaints about the new floor. He said it is a move in the right direction for both cardiac patients and others seeking care at the hospital. He praised HMA and the city for investing in the hospital's future.

"It is clear they expect this facility to grow and are confident in its future," he said.

For Newsome, it was a fitting homecoming at his former stomping ground.

"It is a much-needed addition for the hospital and the community," he said. "It really re-establishes Midwest Regional as the dominant medical provider for the city and the surrounding areas."

Top photo Midwest Regional Medical Center celebrated the opening of the newly built seventh and eighth floors with an Aug. 5 reception.
Second photo Gary Newsome, president and CEO of HMA, speaks at an Aug. 5 reception at Midwest Regional.
Third photo Stan Law (left), James Mays III and Stan Holm, CEO Midwest Regional Medical Center
Fourth photo Dr. Asim Chohan.
Fifth photo Rep. Charlie Joyner, Gwen Joyner and Mayor Jack Fry
Sixth photo B. Ashwin Kumar (from left), Jerome Mathias, Shelley Meyers and Michele Baker show off a nurses' station on one of Midwest Regional's new floors during the Aug. 5 opening reception. All photos/Mark Hancock