As the 51-bed hospital prepares for its opening in the spring, the words “intentional” and “exceptional” have guided its strategic direction, hospital President Cody Hunter told Becker’s.
“Because of its applicability across all of our services lines and departments as we establish goals, those words have been a very clear true north on who we are and who we want to be,” Mr. Hunter said.
Over the last 14 months, leadership has focused on accreditation readiness, recruitment, service line development and community outreach — all with a goal to be “exceptional or better.” Dallas-based Methodist Health System’s track record of success has provided a strong reference point for these goals, Mr. Hunter said.
“There’s no reason that when we open later this year, we can’t have the best patient experience and start our journey on being the safest hospital in North Texas,” he said. “That is humbling and exciting all at the same time.”
Building community partnerships
A key priority ahead of the opening has been developing strong ties within the Celina community. The hospital is working to integrate teaching and training programs into Celina’s community college campus and collaborating with local school districts to explore ways to support dual credit and trade certification students.
Beyond education, the hospital is forming partnerships with local nonprofits, food pantries and faith communities.
“We try to layer our involvement at the community level in a few different ways,” Mr. Hunter said. “We are very intentional about listening to our community and allowing them to tell us where they need support.”
Recruitment and workforce development
As it prepares to become one of Celina’s largest employers, recruitment has been a significant focus for the hospital.
“Recruitment in healthcare is difficult, and it’s not just in the clinical space,” Mr. Hunter said.
A hiring event in January drew more than 300 attendees interested in roles spanning nursing, revenue cycle management and laboratory medicine. Mr. Hunter said hospital leadership feels confident about its progress toward staffing goals, and recognizes the need to keep pace with the city’s growth.
In 2023, Celina was the fastest-growing U.S. city with a population of 20,000 or more, increasing by 26.6% that year — more than 53 times the U.S. growth rate of 0.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re intentionally focused on creating that exceptional culture and taking pages out of Methodist Health System’s book of not only hiring phenomenal people, but retaining those phenomenal people,” he said.
In addition to staffing and opening the hospital, Methodist Celina leadership has identified three key priorities for its first year: emergency care services to meet the community’s immediate needs; procedural spaces, both to provide safe care to patients and to create exceptional experiences for surgeons; and educating the community about ambulatory and outpatient services to reduce the need for long-distance travel.
