HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As Harris Health pushes ahead with its effort to expand Ben Taub Hospital by condemning a portion of Hermann Park, it appears that the push goes against the agency’s own long-term strategic plan for serving low-income patients across Harris County.
Harris Health argues that expanding Ben Taub at its current Texas Medical Center location is the only way to increase healthcare capacity for needy Houstonians. But a strategic plan signed off by Harris Health’s current CEO in 2021 suggests otherwise.
A Strategic Plan With a Different Message
In 2021, Harris Health published a 50-page strategic plan identifying one of the system’s major weaknesses as the “inequitable distribution of locations, not close enough to where people live.”
https://www.harrishealth.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/strategic-plan.pdf
The report includes a map where circles were drawn where the majority of Harris Health patients live, and where access to care is limited. The map identified healthcare deserts.
Notably, the Medical Center is not among the circled areas identified as lacking access, despite being the only location Harris Health has pushed for expansion.
That plan was approved by Harris Health CEO Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, who has since publicly stated that expanding Ben Taub is the only viable option to meet growing demand.
“The facts are, this addresses a desperate necessity by providing the additional capacity to Ben Taub Hospital,” Porsa said previously in a public board meeting.
Long Commutes and Healthcare Deserts
For residents in north Harris County, those facts feel far removed from daily reality.
At a bus stop along Imperial Valley, Jessyca Williams recently began a three-hour commute home from a doctor’s appointment.
“I actually Ubered there so I could make my appointment,” Williams said. “But I decided to take the bus back to save money.”
Nearby, Essence Jones says delayed access to care has had devastating consequences in her community.
“When I was pregnant, they came too late for me,” Jones said. “My placenta had erupted. They didn’t treat me right, and I ended up losing my baby.”
Jones and others describe their neighborhood as a healthcare desert – a characterization echoed in Harris Health’s own strategic assessment.
Distance to Care
Ben Taub Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital are the only two county hospitals open to all patients, regardless of ability to pay. For many North Harris County residents, that means traveling up to 16 miles to LBJ or 25 miles to Ben Taub.
Residents say they support expanding the county hospital system – but want care closer to home.
“Come build here,” Jones said. “Build a hospital here in this area. We have a lot of elderly people, a lot of sick people. Just come bring us a hospital.”
Public Input Continues
Harris County commissioners are hosting a series of town hall meetings to gather public input on the Hermann Park land acquisition and Ben Taub expansion plans. Two meetings remain.
The next town hall is scheduled for Monday night at BakerRipley on Navigation Boulevard, followed by another later this month.
If the condemnation goes through, real estate experts have estimated that Harris County could be required to pay up to $100,000,000 to descendants of Auguste Warnecke, the man who donated the land to the City of Houston for use as a park in perpetuity. That would be before any dirt is turned for a hospital expansion.
As the debate continues, the central question remains whether Harris Health’s push to expand in the Medical Center aligns with its own documented conclusion: that the best use of public dollars is building hospitals where people actually live – and need care.
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