Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital will be demolished in 2018 as the new Dr. Hector P. Garcia Clinic next door takes its place as the main health care provider in the neighborhood. Trauma patients will be taken to Christus Spohn Shoreline once Memorial is closed. Courtesy photo
Corpus Christi welcomes a new health care clinic on Monday, Jan. 16, the same day community leaders will be celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The grand opening day is a fitting attribute for the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center, designed and built to replace Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital next door. That hospital and trauma center will be demolished sometime in the next two to three years.
"Memorial remains open and will continue to offer the region's only Level II Trauma Center as we build the new Patient Care Tower at our Shoreline campus," said Steven Alford, communications manager for Christus Spohn Health System in an email. "The demolition of Memorial would be the very last part of our multi-year project, which is at least two years away."
Garcia was born Jan. 17, 1914, in Mexico. He was a doctor, a World War II veteran and a civil rights advocate. He made his home in Corpus Christi, where he founded the American GI Forum, a Hispanic civil rights organization that focuses on education and equality for American soldiers of Hispanic descent. Garcia died in 1996.
At 43,000 square feet, the clinic that honors him is part of Christus Spohn’s $325 million in expansion plans. Changes include building the clinic and renovating the Shoreline location to include a Level II trauma center as well as centers for tertiary, chest pain and primary stroke care.
With six hospital locations and six family health centers across the Coastal Bend, Christus Spohn Health System is the largest health care system in South Texas. It provides millions of dollars in health care a year to thousands of South Texans without the resources to pay for health care.
The state-of-the-art facility will offer a Quick Care Clinic with 24-hour access Thursdays-Sundays, a primary care health center, a walk-in clinic, a laboratory, radiology and drive-through pharmacy services. Also included are benefits resource counselors and care transition counselors.
Speciality clinics will be available for Nueces Aid beneficiaries needing cardiac, neurology, urology, gynecology, diabetes/endocrinology or orthopedics services. Other areas of service include chronic condition management for diabetes, heart failure and other problems.
“This new center will serve as a medical home for thousands of South Texans as we continue the healing legacy of Dr. Hector P. Garcia and the Christus Spohn mission of extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ,” reads a statement on the clinic’s website.
