More medical facilities on the way

Commissioners have committed $54.5 million in federal relief funds for South, West sides

Bexar County’s vision of giving underserved areas more access to public health is taking shape.

It starts with a $30 million University Health medical office building on the South Side. Another $20 million will be split between a University Health satellite medical clinic and a new public health school that will be run by UT Health San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Texas Biomedical Research Institute will get $3.5 million for upgrades, and $1 million will pay for five “Villagemd” clinics inside Walgreens stores.

Commissioners committed $54.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds last week to projects officials said will enhance health care access and prepare South Texas students for health careers. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who has made public health a priority in his final months in office, said the projects will promote good health and save lives in future pandemics.

“We know it’s just a question of when and where and what it will be, but another virus will come,” Wolff said. “This community needs to stand up and be ready.”

The new medical office building will be in the VIDA masterplanned community near Texas A&M University-san Antonio. University Health plans to offer primary care, radiology, pharmacy and community education services, as well as house administrative offices for public health division employees. The building is expected to open in two years and will be on the same 68-acre tract where the Bexar County Hospital District plans to build a 250-bed acute care hospital.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, noting that University Health has a “very robust capital program” to build neighborhood hospitals and clinics, urged the health system to make sure the satellite clinic is “closest to those people who need it the most and don’t have access currently.”

Rodriguez’s precinct includes constituents in the far western and northwestern portions of

the county.

“The reason we’re making this investment ... is because of what we’ve just gone through over the past couple of years. The communities impacted the hardest were on the south side, east and west,” Rodriguez said. “Access is a key issue and has exacerbated conditions all throughout our community for specific populations.”

Ed Banos, University Health’s chief operating officer, said the system is “committed to making sure that we get health care close to home.” He said the system is looking to acquire land either on the far eastern or the far western sides of the county.

Public health school

The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio is the result of a close collaboration between two UT System institutions to establish a research-intensive, community-centric program to improve health outcomes, reduce morbidity and mortality, and educate the next generation of public health professionals.

Jennifer Potter, UT Health San Antonio’s vice president for research, said the county funding will support a quarter of the programmatic, operational and educational costs, including the renovation of existing spaces at UT Health San Antonio and UTSA campuses, during the five-year startup.

The school is expected to serve about 400 students within the first five years, with a Master of Public Health program beginning in 2024 and eventually a Doctor of Public Health degree program.

UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said the school will provide an option for the roughly 1,000 students in UTSA’S undergraduate public health program, one of the largest in the state, to stay in San Antonio.

“We want to have them trained here and go out and work here and have high-paying jobs here,” Eighmy said.

Representatives of the institutions told commissioners the city does not have a school of public health, but that’s not true.

Uthealth School of Public Health already has a campus in San Antonio, as well as in Houston, Dallas, Austin, Brownsville and El Paso.

The school, which started in 1969 as part of the Uthealth Houston system, has 1,709 students enrolled, including 168 students at the San Antonio campus.

“We look forward to working with the new school in San Antonio to grow the public health workforce and public health services in the San Antonio region,” said Eric Boerwinkle, professor and dean.

UT Health San Antonio spokesman Will Sansom said they routinely partner with sister institutions, including Uthealth Houston.

“We look forward to continuing our close relationship,” Sansom said. “Specific details involving the growing and very much needed opportunities for a public health education in Texas are continuing to be worked through.”

Biomed upgrades

Dr. Larry Schlesinger, president and CEO of Texas Biomed, said the $3.5 million request is “a small piece” of a planned $31.5 million infrastructure upgrade and a $200 millionplus overhaul of Texas Biomed that’s necessary to combat infectious diseases.

Many systems on the campus, which has 400 employees and more than 2,500 primates used for research, are more than 60 years old. Planned upgrades include electrical and water systems, backup power and sewer,

HVAC and IT improvements.

“To sustain our important lifesaving work and ensure vaccines and therapies get to people as rapidly as possible, these infrastructure systems must be upgraded,” Schlesinger said.

Commissioner Marialyn Barnard said she was glad the work includes weatherization to protect the primates. During a record 2021 freeze that caused outages, more than 150 baboons had fingers, toes or tails amputated after suffering frostbite, despite use of generators and supplemental heat.

“I think the work that you’re doing is good, and I’m reassured that the primates are taken care of and used properly in a good way in the research — and ethically,” Barnard said.

Villagemd expansion

Village Medical is headquartered in Chicago and operates more than 150 primary care clinics nationwide. The company has so far opened Villagemd clinics inside two local Walgreens and is seeking federal COVID-19 relief funding to open up five more clinics in medically underserved, low-income neighborhoods.

The project would include renovating and equipping spaces for primary care services and paying for medical staffing.

Commissioners said they like the extended hours, proximity to neighborhoods and commitment to wellness education and patient-centered care that the clinics would provide.

“We know it’s just a question of when and where ... but another virus will come. This community needs to stand up and be ready.”

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff