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Description

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Mission

We improve our communitys health by delivering highquality health care to Harris County residents

Vision

We will create a healthier community and be recognized as one of Americas best
communityowned healthcare systems

Values

Our Patients Staff and Partners
Compassionate Care
Trust
Integrity
Mutual Respect
Communication
Education Research Innovation

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History

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The Harris County Hospital District was created by voter referendum in November 1965 and formally came into being as a political subdivision with taxing authority on January 1 1966 The new district replaced an existing citycounty system in which the two governmental bodies shared funding responsibility Annually at budget time controversy arose between the two entities as each accused the other of not providing an equal share of budget dollars for the Hospital District Therefore before formation of the Hospital District public health for the city and countys indigent and needy citizens was hitormiss Doctors served on a contract basis

Today the Harris County Hospital District provides access to costeffective quality health care delivered in a compassionate manner to all residents of Harris County regardless of their ability to pay

The Hospital District is governed by a board of managers appointed by the Harris County Commissioners Court In the Hospital Districts inaugural year the sevenmember Board requested a 1966 operating budget of 7 Million but was forced to return to Commissioners Court after one month for an increase The annual operating budget was increased to 23 Million

In 1985 Public Law 281 was revised to increase the Board of Managers from seven to nine members to better represent the ethnic mix of the community

Early Milestones
1888 A health care charity unit was established in Houston at the St Joseph Infirmary Twentyone years later a citycounty hospital opened and in 1924 the 150bed Jefferson Davis Hospital was built at 1101 Elder Street

1938 A new Jefferson Davis Hospital was constructed on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou on Allen Parkway The 11storey 500bed Jefferson Davis Hospital which replaced the old Elder Street facility was financed with a 25 Million bond

Jeff Davis had no intensive care units patients were treated in open wards The trauma center consisted of one shock room two treatment rooms and two holding areas In 1949 Baylor College of Medicine agreed to provide medical services to Jeff Davis Hospital

District Development

1963 The annual budget debate raged at the City of Houston A city council member proposed to cut the portion of the budget set aside for Jeff Davis Hospital In response author and Jeff Davis hospital volunteer Jan De Hartog composed an editorial for the Houston Chronicle on April 21 1963 a paragraph of which follows

I would like to show him the emergency room where I have worked as volunteer orderly for eight months now the hall with the stretchers that are never empty the two dark wards in the back where because of the lack of staff the sick the drunk the desperate and the dying are often ditched into the cold sagging beds fully dressed

The City fully funded its portion of the Hospitals budget that year

In May the newly constructed 431bed Ben Taub General Hospital opened replacing the overcrowded Jefferson Davis as the countys general hospital The hospital was named for Mr Ben Taub a longtime advocate for healthcare of the indigent Ben Taubs high standard of emergency care had been set in the 1940s at Jefferson Davis when that hospital emerged as a trauma center because of the high number of Harris County citizens taken there with serious injuries

By default Jeff Davis had developed into Houstons major trauma center because such a high volume of badly injured citizens were taken there Jeff Davis thus set care standards when Ben Taub Hospital was built in 1963

The American College of Surgeons and the Texas Department of Health designated Ben Taub Hospitals Trauma Center as the first Level I Trauma Center in South Texas


1964 Author Jan De Hartog published a book describing the horrific squalor and neglect he had witnessed while volunteering in Houstons local charity hospital

1965 De Hartogs book The Hospital created such a public furor that the Texas Legislature passed an act to allow Harris County citizens to consider creating a hospital district At the next election voters voiced their strong support for public health care by passing the ballot item by a 2to1 margin thus creating a hospital district and ensuring a more predictable funding source

1966 A newly appointed Board of Managers collaborated with the Community Medicine Department of Baylor College of Medicine to determine how best to reduce the tremendously heavy volume of nonemergency cases seen at the Hospital Districts two general hospitals The Harris County Hospital District in cooperation with Baylor created the Community Health Center Program to provide nonemergency primary care close to patients homes By 1968 the first two community health care clinics opened During the next 29 years 12 clinics were opened throughout Harris County

1973 Dr Carlos Vallbona director of Baylors Community Medicine received a grant of 525000 to teach new doctors about health care outside the hospital setting Dr Vallbona used the Community Health Centers to launch his program

1983 Quentin Mease Community Hospital a 48bed facility was added to the Hospital Districts health care system Named for Harris County Hospital Districts longtime chairman of the Board of Managers Quentin Mease Hospital specializes in geriatrics and longterm physical rehabilitation The facility was named to honor Mr Quentin Mease for 25 years of service as a member of the Board of Managers Mr Mease served as chairman of the board for 19 of those years

1989 The Thomas Street Health Center a Southern Pacific railroad hospital facility owned by Harris County was given leasefree to the Hospital District as an outpatient facility for HIVAIDSinfected patients It was the first freestanding HIVAIDS center in the United States In its first year Thomas Street saw some 800 patients today there are 4400 The historic center offers general medicine outpatient IV therapy pharmacy blood transfusions chemotherapy oncology radiology psychiatry rheumatology and dermatology

Lyndon B Johnson General Hospital opened in June 1989 in Houstons nearnorth side Before that time the countys northeast quadrant had no sophisticated health care delivery facility When the new 324bed facility opened the 51yearold Jefferson Davis Hospital was closed LBJ was the first hospital in Texas to receive an official designation as a Level III emergency center It is a teaching


site for the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and is staffed by UTs faculty and residents LBJ Hospital is known for its excellence in obstetric neonatal and oncology care

1990 In January the newly constructed 578bed Ben Taub General Hospital replaced the old Ben Taub facility Located adjacent to its namesake the newer pavilion has 755000 square feet of space

Worldrenowned Ben Taub excels in surgery physical therapy pediatrics obstetrics and neonatology and has a full complement of specialty clinics

With the Houston Fire Department Ben Taub has one of the worlds finest emergency care systems Nearly 80 of HFDs lifethreatening ambulance runs come to Ben Taubs Trauma Center which provides all medical and surgical specialties around the clock

Integrated Health Care Delivery

The Harris County Hospital District provided integrated health care to the community long before this approach was adopted by other hospitals

In the 1950s Mr Ben Taub chairman of the board of Jefferson Davis Hospital contacted Dr Michael DeBakey thenchairman of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine The two devised a plan to make Jeff Davis Hospital a teaching facility for Baylor Thus began a unique relationship that was later expanded to include The University of Texas Health Science CenterHouston

Baylor College of Medicine faculty and residents staff Ben Taub General Hospital Quentin Mease Community Hospital and six community health centers while The University of Texas Health Science Center staffs LBJ Hospital and five community centers The Thomas Street Clinic is jointly staffed by both Baylor and The University of Texas

In an effort to better meet the health care needs of the community the Harris County Hospital District in conjunction with five school districts has established seven schoolbased clinics in areas of the community that need it most HCHDs schoolbased clinics provide health care to children in neighborhoods with limited healthcare services and enable early detection of illness and intervention as well as help promote childrens health issues

With the goal of improving the health of the medically underserved pediatric population of Harris County the Harris County Hospital District operates the TroubleShooting for Health Mobile Program

Homeless Program

The Hospital District historically has recognized the importance of integrating primary health care into the lives of the public including the homeless population Begun in 1986 the Harris County Hospital Districts Homeless Program whose goal is to avoid longterm health problems and costly hospitalizations for the homeless is entirely grantfunded Medical personnel staff 11 area shelters for the homeless providing assessment referral and immunization services

Chaplaincy Program

Recognizing that patient care reaches beyond medical care the Hospital District has a tradition of attention to patients and families social and spiritual needs

The Chaplaincy Department is a critical part of the integrated system Hospital District chaplains are available onsite or oncall throughout the hospitals and clinics The department offers several training options in clinical pastoral education including a yearlong residency with a clinical pastoral and educational focus Students from around the world come to the Harris County Hospital District to receive this training

Social Services in the Harris County Hospital District might be called a bridge in the continuum of care Social workers help patients and their families cope with illness and learn about healthy lifestyles they also are skilled in crisis intervention and counseling


District Structure
Board of Managers

The Harris County Hospital District is governed by a ninemember Board of Managers appointed to twoyear extendible terms by the countys commissioners court

According to the Board of Managers bylaws the Board will concern itself primarily with matters of policy seeking advice from the medical staff members and whatever other sources it deems advisable

The Board of Managers meets monthly in committees and in public and executive sessions Board committees include audit oversight technology oversight buildings and property clinic fiscal affairs joint conference personnel and public affairs

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Managers appoints and delegates to the President and CEO administrative responsibilities According to the Texas Health and Safety Code the CEO supervises all work and activities of the Hospital District and has general direction of the District within limitations that may be prescribed by the Board of Managers