If you need an organ transplant, burn care, or Alzheimer’s treatment, then you have a good chance of being sent to Las Vegas’ medical district.
That area, around Charleston Boulevard between downtown and Valley View, is home to the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, University Medical Center, Valley Hospital, and other smaller specialty clinics.
Since the City of Las Vegas established it nearly 30 years ago, the medical district has grown to encompass almost 700 acres.
And now, even more development is on the horizon. The City of Las Vegas recently completed a $75 million project to improve sidewalks and streets, as well as plant shade trees. And forthcoming apartment complexes and a hotel will expand nearby accommodations.
That’s in addition to a bioscience incubator lab, to which the City of Las Vegas will contribute $10 million, according to an August announcement.
“We want to bring in some practicing physicians who can do research on healthcare or biotech within the Medical District,” said Las Vegas City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Brian Knudsen, whose Ward 1 district includes the Medical District. “It's the best way we can use to improve healthcare, and also create some high-paying jobs.”
Retention is also top of mind, illustrated by forthcoming apartment complexes with a subset of affordable units and a 100-plus-room Hilton hotel — both intended to be used by healthcare practitioners and patients’ families. “Spending 30 days in a [bedside] chair in a hospital makes you really yearn for a place where you can go and take a shower and refresh,” Knudsen said.
University Medical Center, known locally as UMC, has also been a big player in the development. An anchor institution in the Medical District, its CEO, Mason Van Houweling, said the hospital newly has comprehensive stroke care. In the next year, he said, UMC is also looking to expand its pediatric services, grow its acute care rehab, and establish a round-the-clock quick care on Charleston, close to the main hospital campus.
Hospital capacity is also growing. “We're adding 30 beds over the next year-and-a-half to two years,” Van Houweling said, “which will allow for treatment of those drug and trauma patients.”
So, while the face of the Medical District is changing, its mission is the same.
Guests: Mason Van Houweling, CEO, University Medical Center; Brian Knudsen, mayor pro tem and councilman, City of Las Vegas
