Dallas County is about to get a brand new, state-of-the-art public hospital this fall. The new Parkland Hospital opens its doors to patients on August 20.
While NBC 5 got a sneak peek in February, the rest of the Dallas-Fort Worth media was allowed to get a tour of the new hospital on Thursday.
The new Parkland Hospital is massive, about double the size of the old Parkland Hospital.
"The reason for that it's all private rooms, and we tried to have private space for our physicians and residents to discuss activities,” explained senior vice president of new Parkland construction Lou Saksen.
The new hospital has 96 neonatal intensive care rooms, 48 labor and delivery rooms and 862 private rooms.
"First of all they are 26 percent larger,” said Parkland nurse Sheila DePaola. “They are 320 square feet. They are beautiful in my opinion. You have a beautiful view. I think that's the first think you see when you walk in, just this gorgeous view of downtown."
Alll of the private rooms at the new Parkland Hospital have their own bathrooms. That was not the case at the old hospital.
The emergency services area is also much larger at the new hospital.
"We almost tripled in size,” said Parkland Chief of Emergency Services John Pease. “We go to about 120 private treatment rooms."
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Everyone involved with the construction of this new hospital is excited by how it looks today.
"It's going to be a great opening,” said Pease. “This is something the community really needs, and we have really been looking forward to it as the medical staff."
"One of our goals back at the beginning, back in 2009, was to set the standard for public academic medical centers,” said Saksen. “I think the thing I am most proud of is that exactly what we have done."
The new Parkland Hospital cost nearly $900 million. It will create around 300 new jobs.
