Baylor Scott & White-Taylor praised for ‘small-town feel’
For five decades, generations of Williamson County residents as well as visitors have relied on the same Taylor hospital for care and comfort.
The facility, now known as Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Taylor and formerly as Johns Community Hospital, celebrated its 50th anniversary Monday.
Bonnie Machu has been with the hospital since it opened.
“It’s phenomenal,” Machu said. “I love the community and the people and the job that I do.”
Machu became a nurse at the former hospital building on West Sixth Street in 1974. A year later, she moved to the current location, 305 Mallard Lane.
“There’s been a lot of progression with technology,” Machu said. “It’s marvelous what we can do.”
Prior to becoming an operating-room nurse, Machu worked in labor and delivery, which shuttered in the 1980s. One of the babies she tended to a few years ago was Dawn Melde, who is now a respiratory therapist at the hospital.
“Bonnie took care of me after I was delivered,” Melde said. “We never left. It’s great to be working with Bonnie now.”
Melde has been with the hospital since 2006.
“At Taylor, you’re not a room number. Everyone is a patient here. Everyone is someone,” Melde said.
“I’ve been so happy to see that continue. We’ve kept the small-town feel.”
Tim Tarbell, vicepresident of operations, has been at the hospital since 1999 and was also at Monday’s ceremony.
“Health care is always changing,” Tarbell said. “There have been a lot of changes in the last 15 years with the acquisition.”
The “acquisition” Tarbell mentioned took place in 2010 when Johns Community Hospital became part of the Baylor Scott & White network.
“There have been a lot more opportunities and resources,” Tarbell said. “We’ve been able to add more services such as a pain clinic and we also expanded our cardiology coverage. We’re constantly evaluating what services we can add.”
With more growth predicted for Taylor and the area, Tarbell expects more changes to take place at the hospital to keep pace.
“In the next five decades, we will probably have a new facility and expanded coverage,” Tarbell said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to open up more surgical stuff. Who knows what health care will look like in 50 years?”
The parent company is Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest notfor- profit health care operation in the state and one of the largest in the United States, officials said.
It was created from the 2013 merger of Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare.
The system today includes “52 hospitals, more than 1,300 health-system care sites, more than 7,200 active physicians, over 57,000 employees and the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan,” the website noted.
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We’re constantly evaluating what services we can add.”
— Tim Tarbell, vice president of operations
Bonnie Machu (left) and Dawn Melde look at the timeline of Baylor Scott & White-Taylor (formerly Johns Community Hospital) during the medical facility’s 50th anniversary party Monday afternoon. Machu, who worked in the nowshuttered labor and delivery ward, helped deliver Melde when she was born. Photos by Jason Chlapek
