The community turned out in droves Thursday to celebrate the opening of the $50 million Ted and Sue Getterman Sports and Orthopedic Center at the Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.
In keeping with the hospital system’s Baptist heritage, a floor-to-ceiling wall in a main workout area — where patients can squat, push and pull against resistance — is covered with Bible verses encouraging self-discipline, perseverance and making the most of each day God provides.
To some who spoke Thursday, the center at State Highway 6 and Interstate 35 is an answer to prayer, and now cause for celebration.
There, in a 106,000-square-foot building, a cadre of specially trained doctors will treat injured athletes, weekend warriors and patients requiring joint replacement. They will ply their practice using the latest in equipment and techniques, ranging from anti-gravity treadmills to surgery and rehab.
The center boasts 48 examination rooms; advanced diagnostic imaging, including MRI; an orthopedic surgery center; and a sports medicine center with indoor and outdoor sports performance areas.
The sports therapy center includes technology that sports team members can use to analyze movement to improve strength, conditioning and performance, officials said. Examples include a resistance-training system that simulates aquatic therapy on land, “providing strength development with less wear and tear,” according to a news release.
Also, an anti-gravity treadmill, “using air pressure technology to allow training and rehabilitation with less pain,” said the release. It also features a “Fusionetics Performance Health System,” described as a program “focused on decreasing injury, optimizing performance and enhancing recovery.”
Anchoring the new facility is Baylor Scott & White Southwest Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics, whose practice serves teams at Baylor University and other area schools and colleges.
Dr. Jon Ellis, who founded the practice, recalled Thursday the growing pains associated with developing a niche practice now relied upon by more than 3,000 patients monthly.
Ellis used the words “blessing” and “amazing” to describe the new center, and its potential for improving the lives of many in the community. He said a 12th physician soon will join the practice, and he believes the new $50 million facility will serve as an attractive lure to those specializing in the field.
The facility places under one roof technologies to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate patients suffering pain in their hand, wrist, foot, elbow, ankle and spine, officials said.
“With the expansion of our practice in this new facility, we are excited to be able to serve even more of our community more efficiently and keep Central Texas moving,” Ellis said in a news release.
The new center includes injury prevention technology that can avert painful and costly procedures for both elite athletes and the general public, center officials said.
Kenny Boyd Sr., associate athletics director for student-athlete health and wellness at Baylor University, said in an interview that Baylor’s athletes routinely visit the Southwest Sports Medicine facilities and have ongoing access to its healthcare professionals.
At one point in planning for a sports medicine center, university and medical center officials discussed placing it at Interstate 35 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near McLane Stadium, but that option did not materialize. Officials Thursday said they are delighted to see construction take place where it did, adjacent to the main Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest campus.
Baylor Scott & White underwrote the center’s construction, but volunteers raised more than $5 million for high-tech equipment and amenities, said Becky Lindsey, who led the fundraising committee. She said She said fundraising will continue to pay for a robotic device to assist with surgical procedures.
Ceremonial speeches inside the new center attracted a standing-room-only crowd so large that communications equipment was installed in remote areas to accommodate the overflow. Special guests included Sue Getterman, for whom the complex was named along with her late husband, former Waco mayor and Baylor benefactor Ted Getterman.
Her grandson, Smith Getterman, opened the ceremony with a quip and a prayer.
“I can’t think of another scenario in which I would want to be around so many doctors and nurses,” he said before praying.
— WACOTRIB