El Paso Children’s Hospital Fills Beds, Jobs

By David Crowder / El Paso Inc.

El Paso Children?s Hospital has been open a little less than three months and is defying early predictions as its beds fill and the pediatric emergency room gets busy.

?It?s much farther ahead of the curve than we anticipated,? said CEO Larry Duncan of an occupancy rate that topped 50 percent in April, the start of a traditionally slow season for children?s hospitals.

?We are thrilled with how it has progressed,? he said. ?And, when I say thrilled, I don?t mean I?m thrilled children are sick. I mean I?m thrilled that we have the opportunity take care of them.?

The children?s hospital has filled 405 of its 421 positions, most of them for nurses.

The 122-bed, $122.5 million not-for-profit hospital opened Feb. 14, taking the top four floors of a new 10-story medical building next to El Paso County?s University Medical Center, formerly Thomason Hospital.

Read the full El Paso Inc. article here.