Local News

Parkland Doors Open; Community Support Still Critical

August 20, 2015 / 9:33 PM CDT / CBS Texas

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The doors of the new $1.3 billion Parkland hospital are open—ushering in state-of-the-art healthcare to Dallas county's poor and uninsured.

Local attorney turned successful businessman Randy Bowman was once one of them, which he says explains why he's a relentless advocate, now.

"I was not the last little poor kid over in Pleasant Grove that needed healthcare," says Bowman, "that's why I'm here."

For the past six years, Bowman -- now Chair of the Parkland Foundation -- has worked with his team to raise more than $150 million for the new hospital project.

"The folks that come through here for treatment are not people who are isolated in society," says Bowman. "Many of these folks are in our homes everyday working, they're in our businesses everyday working … if they're vulnerable, we're vulnerable."

Although the poor are the most frequent consumers of Parkland's services, the Parkland Foundation has worked to include them in the fundraising for the new campus. Bowman calls it "democratizing" the process—allowing, even encouraging those of limited means to contribute.

"We really wanted to have a broad base of community support. It's great to have the Rees-Jones and the Simmons Foundations of the world, the Hamon Foundations and the Lyda Hills of the world," says Bowman, as he rattles off the names of the most generous donors, which included Mike A. Myers. "to go out and make these gigantic gifts, and they did and they were generous and we greatly appreciate it. But, there are other folks out there who have lesser means who want to make a commensurate sacrifice. Some of those folks are themselves indigent, but they wanted to provide that support to the hospital. So the mural represents those gifts from those folks."

Names of donors who contribute at least $10 had their names etched on the sky bridge connecting the two campuses… and there are many. So many in fact, that from the street the list of names appears as a wooded nature scene. ""We had over 12,000 gifts," says Bowman, "ranging from 50 cents to $50 million."

He admits that the community support that the donations represent will be critical going forward—because the cost of maintaining the new, larger facility will be ongoing. But, supporters say it is worth it.

"This is where we bring injured police officers, this is where we bring burned firefighters, this is where we bring people who have injuries that other places simply can't take care of," says Alex Eastman, MD, Chief of the Rees-Jones Trauma Center, "we've always provided world class trauma care, now we have a world class facility to provide that care in as well."

The move into the new 2.1 million square foot facility will bring the hospital into the 21st century of healthcare... and supporters hope it will usher in an improved public perception of the county hospital as well.
"Part of it is changing the perception of Parkland and making it, not simply a hospital of necessity," says Bowman, "but, a hospital of choice."

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