Residents of Bowie will soon have a local source for emergency medical care as Faith Community Health System (FCHS) announces a new management agreement to provide emergency medical services from the site of the former Central Hospital of Bowie.
In an announcement made at an Aug. 16 Board of Directors meeting, FCHS CEO Frank L. Beaman says that the Bowie ER project has been in planning for more than eight months as FCHS has been evaluating how to bring essential and convenient emergency medical care to the Bowie community.
“Rural communities in Texas and across the nation continue to find themselves without access to local healthcare,” Beaman says. “In our region, Faith Community Health System is doing its part to make sure members of our communities can feel confident that local healthcare is indeed local.”
Nearly 30 percent of Texas counties no longer have access to a local hospital. The lack of local healthcare creates enormous challenges for rural Texans who seek or require access to comprehensive medical programs and services.
The Bowie community has been without a full-service hospital since the hospital closed its doors in February 2020. Since then, residents have had to travel out of town, like FCHS in Jacksboro for emergency care. FCHS has been operating the rural health clinic in Bowie since 2018.
As part of the announcement, FCHS will operate the emergency department at the Central Hospital of Bowie site and provide radiology and clinical laboratory services. The building is currently undergoing extensive renovations and upgrades by its current owners to ensure facilities are up-to-date for outpatient services.
“I am excited to join in the celebration of the announcement of FCHS’s new emergency facility and to join with my fellow economic development team and city leaders in welcoming them to Bowie,” said Janis Crawley, Bowie Economic Development Executive Director. “One key component in recruitment of new business and residence is quality health care. The announcement by FCHS is a great asset and vital for future growth and sustainability.”
The new FCHS Bowie Emergency Room is expected to employ approximately 30 people and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Leveraging respective resources to assist citizens in our community is, and will remain, a priority of mine, said Gaylynn Burris, Mayor City of Bowie. As the Mayor of Bowie, I have a clear understanding of the importance of quality health care and am extremely excited for our community as we welcome the announcement of FCHS’s ability in bringing a facility of this magnitude to our community. Bowie is fortunate that we, as a city, offer our citizens great emergency response teams in both our paid and volunteered firemen/paramedic staff members and we look forward to partnering with the upcoming hospital leaders.”
“Faith Community Health System is excited to have the opportunity to expand our footprint and make professional healthcare services convenient,” Beaman says. “We look forward to making additional announcements in the coming months as repairs and renovations progress.”
While construction and other upgrades at the facility are currently ongoing, Beaman says various delays are associated with the pandemic. There is no word on a specific opening date, but FCHS hopes to open the Bowie Emergency Room as soon as possible.
New emergency care service coming to Bowie (newschannel6now.com)
