Baylor Scott & White in Temple, has taken care of patients in and all over Bell County for decades.
“We have 100,000s of patients that travel to our county to receive care,” said Baylor Scott and White Central Region President Shahin Motakef.
“They don’t have to go drive and stay in a hotel and go to another city it’s all right here,” said Drayton McLane.
The hospital has also brought a lot of money to the area.
“Estimated that the value to the community was $300,000,000 and that’s just at Children’s Hospital. The adult hospital, which is 5 to 8 times larger, well you can start seeing billions of dollars and economic development,” said Motakef.
Baylor Scott & White is the largest nonprofit hospital system in the state of Texas with some 9,000 of its employees living in and around Bell County.
“It means that it provides a lot of jobs which means that ability to buy houses and use local services which provide jobs for other people in the area,” said Texas A&M-Central Texas Interim Department Chair of Finance accounting and Economics Robert Tennant.
The hospital is also a cornerstone in the TMED District in Temple which attracts thousands of young professionals.
“You can see it everywhere you go home the road construction in homes and businesses come up,” said Tennant.
“We really want to be attractive to people to not just come work here but also stay here and raise their families. Plus, we want them to retire here. There’s a lot of effort that is going into this thing,” said Motakef.
