Kilgore, partners break ground on Roy H. Laird Regional Medical Health Sciences Education Center

A groundbreaking for the state-of-the-art Roy H. Laird Regional Medical Health Sciences Education Center was held Tuesday at the planned site of the new facility, 1612 S. Henderson Blvd. in Kilgore.

Elected officials, medical students and professionals, along with representatives from Christus Good Shepherd Health and Kilgore College met at the site for prayers, blessings and comments on the historic construction.

“What an honor and privilege it is for me to share this groundbreaking, in what is arguably the grandest, most visionary project in 150 years of Kilgore,” said Kilgore Mayor Ronnie Spradlin, noting 2022 is the city’s sesquicentennial anniversary.

This first-of-its-kind community college health sciences facility will be unique, serving patients of Kilgore and surrounding East Texas communities in an environment that utilizes clinical students from nursing, physical therapy assistant, occupational therapy assistant, and medical imaging programs.

CHRISTUS Good Shepherd, the Roy H. Laird Memorial Hospital Foundation, the City of Kilgore and Kilgore College will be collaborating on the development, to be called the Roy H. Laird Medical Center.

Construction of the center will be funded in part by a $2.5 million Economic Development Assistance Grant, revenues from the center and funding from the hospital foundation. The original hospital building opened more than 70 years ago and served the Kilgore area until 2007. Since then, the campus has hosted a variety of tenants.

“A project like this takes years,” City Manager Josh Selleck told the crowd.

“It’s been an absolute honor working on it with our partners. Working on a project like this on behalf of the community is honestly one of the highlights of my career. I’m excited to see what we can do together as we move forward.”