Covenant Health Launches Construction Efforts in Lubbock

LUBBOCK, Texas — Covenant Health, based in Knoxville, Tenn., is investing $450 million toward construction and renovation efforts for its hospital system in Lubbock.

Covenant Health officials confirmed on March 24 that the health system will embark on a capital improvement project they’re calling Keeping the Covenant, which will include massive renovations of current facilities, new construction and technology upgrades to hospitals and medical centers that serve people in western Texas and eastern New Mexico.

“The founders of the early hospitals and clinics in Lubbock left a legacy of quality health care in West Texas,” Richard Parks, Covenant Health CEO, said in a statement. “With state-of-the-art facilities, Covenant Health is committed to carry on that legacy for the next 100 years. That’s our covenant to our ministry of Christian healing, to our medical staff and care teams and to our community, and we’re keeping it.”

Slated to be completed in five to seven years, Keeping the Covenant begins with an expansion and renovation of the Joe Arrington Cancer Center (JACC) and the main Covenant Medical Center (CMC) campus in Lubbock. At the JACC, changes to the facility will help improve patient flow, and the center plans on bringing in state-of-the-art Elekta radiation machines. In November 2015, the center will also incorporate a new gamma knife into its service offerings. New medical oncology and specialty clinics will also be included.

The initial phase of the construction at CMC will result in a temporary relocation of valet parking just west of its current location to make way for new endoscopy, day surgery and pre-operation accommodations. Additional improvements include a renovation to the existing heart center and radiology units, a new central plant, and a new kitchen and dining facilities.

Later phases of the project at CMC will include demolition of the west tower and construction of a new tower to house women’s services and a new main hospital entrance. The new women’s services floors will feature labor and delivery and postpartum floors, relocated from Covenant Children’s, and a neonatal intensive care unit.

Covenant is also constructing two new outpatient clinics, including one in northwest Lubbock that is set to break ground this month. The northwest clinic will provide new space for six family practice physicians and an attached urgent care area with shared X-ray and lab facilities.

Covenant Hospital Plainview also begun major renovations and expansions to its surgery center, emergency department and patient rooms.

The final phase of the Keeping the Covenant project includes renovations to Covenant Children’s. With the eventual move of women’s services to the new tower at the CMC campus, Covenant Children’s will renovate two floors dedicated to new administrative and support services, and it will improve its patient rooms to provide a more modern healing environment. Covenant Children’s will be the only freestanding children’s hospital in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Currently, Covenant Children’s is the region’s only designated Pediatric Trauma Center.

“This is a once-in-lifetime construction project where Covenant is rethinking facility design to incorporate healing elements,” said Teb Thames, MD, chairman of Covenant’s board of directors. “The vision of the facility design is to help reduce staff stress and fatigue, increase effectiveness in care delivery, and improve patient safety and overall health care quality.”