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ORANGE — The much-anticipated Christus Hospital-Orange officially open its doors to the public Feb. 1.

Kevin Parsley, chief operating officer of Christus Southeast Texas Health System, said city officials and community members have expressed a desire for emergency care and access to health care closer to home since the area’s only hospital closed its doors more than five years ago.

“Christus Southeast Texas Health System remains committed to the community it is blessed to serve.

We are focused on bridging the health care gap for the residents of Orange,” Parsley said. “We are excited to open the hospital’s doors. Patients will be able to receive life-saving care in the state-of-the-art facility starting on Feb. 1.

The hospital located at 6901 Medical Center Drive in Orange alongside Interstate 10 is situated on the 20-acre Gisela Houseman Medical Campus.

The new hospital accounts for seven acres of the land and includes emergency services, extended stay unit, full diagnostic imaging and lab services and a dedicated women’s center.

The top floor of the two-story facility is a medical office portion that opened in November.

Multiple tenants are either open or currently having offices built out in order to open in the near future.

Parsley said Christus Hospital-Orange is the anchor facility in the new 55,000 square-feet building.

More than 80 associates and contract staff will be employed there.

“We would like to thank our associates and our wonderful and generous donors who have made this

hospital possible,” Parsley said. “Gisela Houseman and the Houseman Foundation played a pivotal role in bringing this hospital to fruition by generously donating the land on where the hospital stands. Many other community leaders were integral to making this project a realty.”

The journey to bringing a hospital to the county came long before Baptist Hospital Orange closed its emergency room services Jan. 12, 2017.

The closure led to a petition requesting an election for the formation of a hospital district in Orange County.

With 1,253 votes for the district and with 6,342 voting against the proposition in the final tally, the hospital district did not pass.

Orange County Judge John Gothia said in a 2023 interview that Orange was the largest county in Texas without a hospital.

Orange County has an estimated population of 85,000.

The primary driver behind the push to get a hospital was Marty Rutledge of Orange Medical Surgical Associates. Rutledge will be leasing space in the medical offices once they are completed. A number of others were involved in getting the hospital to Orange, including Gisela Housman, who donated the land; as well as Orange County, the City of Orange and more.