UMC’s General Bond Initiative For Expanded Healthcare Access Approved By El Paso County Commissioners, Headed To Voters in November
August 13, 2024
Download PDF
EL PASO, Texas – On Monday, El Paso County Commissioners unanimously approved the El Paso County Hospital District’s $396.6 million bond initiative to go on the November 2024 ballot.
If approved by voters, the bond will aid the capacity at University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) currently faces.
UMC proposes that the $396.6 million would go toward building a burn center, adding critical care beds, new operating rooms, cardiac catheterization rooms for heart patients and improvements to imaging and laboratory services.
Additionally, proceeds from the bond are anticipated to be used to expand healthcare access for El Paso’s rapidly growing elderly population and for the construction of cancer care facilities to provide all necessary services for cancer patients under one roof. UMC is currently in discussions with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso to collaborate in establishing the region’s first comprehensive cancer care center.
El Paso County voters will now decide whether to fund these projects aimed at addressing treatment gaps and expanding UMC’s capacity to serve patients.
Of the proposed amount, $24.4 million of UMC’s bond initiative would offer a burn center with two burn operating rooms and inpatient burn care, to include specialized patient rooms with a controlled temperature for burn patients. The nearest burn center to El Paso is located more than 300 miles away in Lubbock.
Despite not being a burn center, UMC receives more than 100 burn victims a year who are not able to leave the city or are turned away at nearby burn centers due to capacity constraints at those facilities.
UMC’s bond proposal is the result of the hospital’s current capacity issues and research based on the community’s needs.
For a detailed breakdown of UMC’s bond initiative on the November ballot, the public is encouraged to download “UMC Cares” mobile app on the Apple App Store or Google Play.