Letter From Wes Murray

murray-3In 1956, a group of creative individuals from the “Health Committee of the Texas County Extension Council” realized there were state and federal funds available to help place hospitals in rural communities. Qualification for these funds required a monetary commitment from the community, so concerned citizens like Ansel Coats and others traveled by whatever means available to differe
nt communities around Texas County to promote the need for a hospital.

Can you imagine the dedication and time it took to travel to Eunice, Elk Creek, Clara, and other communities in the county?Meetings were held in churches, one-room schoolhouses, as well as individual’s homes.Sometimes the council members had to spend the night and travel back home the next day.

The diligence and determination of the committee paid off with the construction of Texas County Memorial Hospital on the tract of land where it stands today.TCMH was strategically built at the centralized location of Houston to provide access to people from all portions of the county and “memorial” was included in the hospital’s name in hopes that Texas County residents would continue to support the hospital with donations or memorials.President Harry Truman gave the hospital dedication speech on November 25, 1958, just days prior to the first patient arriving at TCMH.

Since 1956, the board of trustees, physicians and employees at Texas County Memorial Hospital have continued to build on the foundation of providing excellent patient care to the patients in the rural communities in Texas County and the surrounding area.Over the years, the hospital has expanded services to include an intensive care unit to complement the medical surgical, general surgery and obstetrics departments.Departments such as physical therapy, hospice and home health have also been added and expanded.With our dedicated team of physicians, nurses and ancillary staff members, we have built a firm foundation for primary healthcare services in the South Central Ozarks.

The TCMH Board of Trustees have continued to build on our firm foundation by expanding the size of the hospital by 59,000 square feet with a new medical surgical unit, a new 13-bed emergency department and a new radiology suite.This addition should be complete in the fall of 2012.

Adding to the hospital’s firm foundation are long-time hospital-employed physicians that are continuing their commitment to providing healthcare to our community.Several new physicians have also made recent commitments to the community, too.We are very proud that the TCMH Medical Staff is supportive of the current and continued expansion progress being made at TCMH.They know it will help them provide better patient care and help us continue to recruit great physicians to our hospital.

To continue to build on the future of patient care at TCMH, we must press forward, continuing to improve all of our patient care areas including surgery, obstetrics and intensive care.The first of these building blocks is a new surgical suite.Construction and renovation of the TCMH surgery department must be done first.Surgical services are a key component to providing primary care and taking care of our obstetrics and intensive care patients. The FEMA approved tornado safe room will provide safe care for our patients, staffand community members during severe weather.

For the first time in over 20 years TCMH is approaching the community to ask for a pledge of financial support.This community-wide campaign will only be successful if every family considers the value of healthcare in our rural community.

Please consider joining our building campaign to take part in this vital effort.Healthcare in rural America is as vital today as it was in 1956.The citizens of Texas County deserve to have technologically advanced primary care services and the physicians and staff that come with them.TCMH is building today to provide healthcare services in rural Missouri for the next 50 years.

Sincerely,

Wes Murray,

Chief Executive Officer

Texas County Memorial Hospital