Collin County continues to smash population growth records.
According to county officials, it was one of the fastest-growing counties in the entire country last year.
More families – especially on the northern end of Collin County and parts of Denton County – are moving to the area and creating a demand for quality healthcare.
After four years of construction, Cook Children’s will cut the ribbon on Thursday morning on a 23-acre medical center off Highway 380 in Prosper.
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It's the first hospital Cook Children's has built outside of its flagship campus in Fort Worth in over 100 years.
“This is an extraordinary time in our almost 105-year history in North Texas,” said Rick W. Merrill, President, and CEO of Cook Children’s Health Care System. “Families in this fast-growing region can take comfort in knowing there’s no need to drive long distances to see board-certified pediatricians, specialists, intensivists, hospitalists, and emergency medical doctors. Their child’s medical needs can be met right here by our outstanding team in Prosper.”
With thousands of families moving to this area of North Texas each month, hospital system leaders say the need for quality pediatric health care is evident.
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Cook Children’s already has a presence in this part of North Texas, having served more than 260,000 children through its 17 primary-care clinics elsewhere in Prosper, Aubrey, Plano, McKinney, Allen, Denton, Celina, Frisco, Little Elm, Flower Mound, and Carrollton.
But the expansion of the Dallas North Tollway further north past Frisco and into the Prosper and Celina area has made northern Collin County and eastern Denton County a haven for homebuilders and developers.
With Collin County already becoming the 6th most populous in all of Texas, Cook Children's officials say families in this fast-growing region need options to avoid driving far into the metroplex to find care.
"They no longer have to travel an hour to receive that urgent or emergent care, but we had it right there in their backyard,” said Greene. “And so as we looked at where our primary care clinics were set up and really where that growth was going, we saw Prosper and felt like it was a great opportunity to be able to have a centrally located campus that could really provide great care across the board for the entire northern region.”
Cook Children’s Medical Center – Prosper includes a 20-bed capacity emergency department, operating and procedure rooms, a 10-bed pediatric ICU, a medical/surgical unit, an outpatient infusion center, imaging services, a retail pharmacy, laboratory services, and pharmacy services.
"The beautiful thing about this campus, is we really designed it to be a one-stop shop," said Kevin Greene, vice president & administrator of Cook Children's Prosper. "Now with the opening of the medical center, our families won't have to travel for any of those needs."
The inside is also as unique as you can get in Texas, with a Sistine-chapel-like painting of flying cows over the main entrance – a nod to its Cowtown roots.
Greene also sited the growing RSV and flu cases that are inundating local children's hospital as another key indicator that more options for families are a must.
"I think we all are hearing in the news about what's going on with RSV and a lot of these respiratory illnesses. Personally, my five year old had RSV last week and then my six month old picked it up, and actually was admitted in Fort Worth," he said. "And so our pediatrician -- when they recognized that -- we got him down to Cook Children's main campus in Fort Worth. And they are taking care of him there and providing great care. But ultimately, though, we know that when this hospital opens, families will never have to travel to Fort Worth again. They will have all those services right here on campus."
Prosper is a hot spot for growth. Children's Health is also building a 72-acre specialty center that is set to open in early 2023, that is just a few miles from the Cook Children's site.
Both hospitals will bring hundreds of jobs to the region, with Cook Children's alone bringing in over 550 jobs to its new location by the end of this year.
After the ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Cook Children's Medical Center – Prosper is just weeks away from officially opening its doors to patients, with a planned opening at the end of December.
