08-02-2025
MCH chief reflects on 75 years
Feb. 7—Over the last 75 years, Medical Center Hospital has seen a lot of physical, personnel and technology growth.
President and CEO Russell Tippin has been head of Medical Center Health System for nearly six years. The mass shooting on Aug. 31, 2019, was Tippin's fourth day on the job.
In an hour's time, seven people had been shot and killed, three law enforcement officers had been shot and wounded, at least 21 civilians had been shot and wounded, and the gunman had been shot and killed. Several others received cuts and lacerations caused by flying glass and debris associated with gunfire striking very close to their proximity.
The gunman, Seth Ator, was shot and killed by multiple law enforcement agencies as they made a final stand in a field near Cinergy Theatre.
Tippin also experienced COVID-19 on his watch.
"I've had two once-in-a-lifetime things happen to me since I've been here, but man, time flies. It goes smooth by," he said.
In healthcare, he noted, if you're standing still, you're going to get left behind. COVID taught people that they didn't have to be in an office to work, meetings could be conducted virtually and doctors' appointments as well.
"If you think about 15 years ago, what an MRI machine looked like versus what, you know, what it looks like now, and how much faster it is, kind of like going from a VCR to your phone. It's kind of the same thing. They're still big, giant machines, but they used to fill up two rooms. Now our MRI machine can fit on a trailer of an 18-wheeler, and be just as effective and just as fast," Tippin said.
"It's really been interesting to watch technology change and just the way healthcare is delivered now," he added.
You can get prescriptions, healthcare and healthcare information — like EKGs — through apps and wearable devices like Apple Watches.
Tippin said one thing that hasn't changed is the quality of the hospital's people.
"West Texas people are different than other people. They're just different. There's something instilled in them that's different. Maybe it's the sand in their teeth that makes them different, the grit, but definitely their hearts and their ability to care for people is different, and that's one thing that hasn't changed in 75 years," Tippin said.
The quality of the staff, nurses, doctors, housekeepers all have something inside of them that makes them want to care for other people, and that's pretty special, he added.
Those doctors are no longer confined to offices or hospitals, but can be found at numerous urgent care clinics and people have adapted to that. Patients also don't have to wait as long for test results because of patient portals. They also can communicate with their doctors through the portal.
"Not even 15 years ago, there was no such thing. Everything was dictated or transcribed into the medical record. Now what the doctor puts in medical record, you can see that on your phone anywhere in the world. I could even look at my chest X ray in there. I could look at my chest X ray results. You think about people who are battling, you know, big diseases, big cancers, that are having to travel for some of this care, how they're able to take their medical record in the palm of their hand, and they're able to text that or email it, or take a picture of it and send it to the cancer center, or perhaps you know another doctor they're being referred to. That kind of blows my mind, too, how that information is just so flexible now, how it moves around. Used to, you'd send in medical records requests they would have 30 or 45 days to make the copies and send it to your next doctor. Nowadays, if you don't have it done in 30 or 45 minutes, something's wrong," Tippin said.
Medical records also now talk to each other. In the past, patients would be transferred from Andrews to Medical Center, for example, and you'd hand a copy of the patient's record to medical personnel. Now, you can put a patient ID number into the system and "it just brings it all over."
"It's instant," Tippin said.
He added that this helps with care and keeps the patient moving through the system faster.
Treatment that people would go to Dallas or Houston for is also available at MCH.
"That's been a goal of Medical Center for a long time," Tippin said.
He added that Medical Center provides more advanced care to people in outlying towns like Fort Stockton, Monahans and Andrews.
"We have doctors that travel there so those patients don't have to leave their town," Tippin said. "Our cardiac doctors are a prime example. They go all over. They go to Rankin, Monahans, Andrews. They have clinics there and that way those patients don't leave," Tippin said. "Back in the day, you needed a big heart procedure done, you left. You need a brain procedure done, you left. But now they don't have to do that. We handle it all right here," Tippin said.
Texas Oncology-Odessa West Texas Cancer Center is nearby.
"There are probably 60 people getting cancer treatment right now that 10, 15 years ago would be on the road to Houston to have that done. They're getting the same treatment regimen right there as they would get if they were sitting in downtown Houston. That's a big, big shift," Tippin said.
He added that the hospital has more than 60,000 visits to its emergency room every year.
"That's like the size of Andrews or Big Spring twice a year. ... That's a lot of people," Tippin said.
One of the cardiac surgeons, Dr. Kirit Patel, performs 200 to 300 open-heart surgeries every year.
"When I grew up in this area back in the 80s, open hearts were sent to Houston. They weren't done here. ... Now we're doing hundreds of those every year right here in Odessa at Medical Center. That's cool stuff. That's how you grow in health care. You find those things that people are having to travel for and you bring those to the patient. You make it convenient for the patient. ... Being able to provide those services in Odessa and Ector County is a big deal," Tippin said.
There's also robotic surgery that is minimally invasive and enables patients to go home the same day.
Babies in the neonatal intensive care unit let parents stay nearby while their baby is being cared for.
There are other advances available for example DNA mapping for cancer treatment so you can match your treatment to your DNA.
"That's very cutting edge technology to match somebody's DNA within 1 percent is amazing. That's really, really cool stuff and it just helps the patient get better faster," Tippin said.
The cardiac physicians and surgeons are also top notch.
"They do so many hearts; they do it so well. Their recovery rates, their success rates are so high that you may be in Odessa, Texas, but you're getting the same, if not better, care than you get in downtown Houston. That's just because these guys are so well trained. They're so well connected and they get to do it so many times that they're experts," he added.
The hospital has grown from 85 beds in one building to 402 beds and at least six buildings.
The hospital has partnerships with many community entities even joining with the Midland County Hospital District to establish the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Hospital being built at 3300 Farm to Market Road 1788.
MCH also is extending its reach through Odessa College and University of Texas Permian Basin.
"We're not going anywhere. We're going to be around," Public Relations Director Trevor Tankersley said.
According to the hospital website, in 1948, there were three hospitals in Odessa. Dr. Elbert Thorton owned a six-bed hospital, Dr. Emmett Headlee owned the Headlee Hospital, which is now the Ector County Library, and Dr. J.K. Wood owned a 34-bed facility called Wood Hospital.
Due to the need for more healthcare services, Wood gathered a group of citizens who met with Ector County Commissioners to propose a new Odessa hospital. The commissioners recognized the need, and C.C. Gibson was soon hired as the hospital administrator, the site said.
After nearly two years of construction, the Ector County Hospital was dedicated on Nov. 27, 1949. The doors were opened for patients on Dec. 5, 1949. It cost $838,946 to build.
Since 2010, Medical Center Health System has continued to open clinics at various locations to make healthcare more accessible. In 2014, MCHS opened the Center for Primary Care — JBS Parkway and the Center for Primary Care — West University that include Urgent Care clinics and pediatric services. MCHS operates three Urgent Care clinics, one ProCare Walk-in Clinic, and two Family Health Clinic locations.
The health system was the integration of ProCare, all the urgent care clinics, doctors and doctors' offices, Tankersley said.
The hospital now serves more than 100,000 patients a year over a 17-county area directly, but also counties in eastern New Mexico. The emergency room serves an average of 180 patients a day.
During the 1980s, MCH experienced financial difficulties. After some failed financial recovery attempts by private management companies, Odessa "rallied to rescue the hospital and voted to create the Ector County Hospital District in 1989," the website said.
"We're your largest trauma facility between Dallas and El Paso," Tankersley said.
The hospital is currently a Level 3 trauma center, but it operates at a Level 2, he said.
Tankersley said they can get the Level 2 designation back, but it's a process.
"We had to drop it because of financial implications. It costs a lot of money to keep that designation, as well as holding a certain number of specialties 24/7," Tankersley said.
He added that COVID threw a wrench into that and that non-clinical staff took pay cuts during the pandemic.
