A long-vacant hospital in Houston’s Third Ward is set to reopen as a community health and services center after Harris County approved a plan to acquire and renovate the property.
County commissioners voted to move forward with purchasing the former Riverside General Hospital campus on Ennis Street. The redevelopment plan includes transforming the site into a hub that will house the Harris County Health Department and provide expanded health and social services to residents.
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who said he was born at the then-Riverside General Hospital, told ABC13 that the reopening is planned for Feb. 28, the final day of Black History Month, in honor of its origins as a Black-serving space.
“Here in the shadows of the largest, most prestigious medical center in the world, there are many people who don’t have access to healthcare,” Ellis said. “This building will be a part of that package to give people who can’t afford great health insurance like we have, that they too ought to be respected and can come here for services.”
Former volunteer Dorothy Booker, 92, reflected on her time at the hospital in an interview with ABC13. “I’m proud to be a part of something that started in my life, advanced in my life, that I was able to help somebody,” Booker said.
The former Negro Hospital building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; as such, county leaders view the project as a way to restore a historically significant site while expanding access to public health services in the Third Ward community.
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Source: Black Enterprise
