CHRISTUS Good Shepherd, Kilgore College, the City of Kilgore and the Roy H. Laird Memorial Hospital Foundation hosted a ribbon cutting and grand opening for their newest facility, the Roy H. Laird Health Science Center, on July 11.
The ceremony featured tours of the new facility, located at 1612 Henderson Blvd. in Kilgore, built on the grounds of the former Laird Memorial Hospital.
Construction on the nearly 75,000 square-foot facility began in 2022 and features a new Kilgore College Health Science Education Center, and a new CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic family medicine location and out-patient physical therapy location, which are located adjacent to the CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Emergency Center.
“The partnership and collaboration we have had with both the City of Kilgore and Kilgore College has been incredible,” said Todd Hancock, president of CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System. “This facility not only allows for incredible education opportunities for future health care providers but increases our capacity to care for our community.”
The Kilgore College Torrence Health Science Education Center is a new teaching and state-of-the-art lab space which is home to the college’s associate degree nursing, vocational nursing, physical therapy assistant, and radiologic technology programs. The educational facility encompasses 37,324 square feet, which provides an enhanced learning environment for Kilgore College students.
“For years, KC has strived to train the next generation of East Texas health care workers,” said Dr. Brenda Kays, president of Kilgore College. “With the opening of the Torrence Health Science Education Center, that mission takes a giant leap forward.”
For more information about the Health Science programs at Kilgore College, visit www.kilgore.edu/health-sciences.
Photo by Rachel Stallard/KC