NOCONA ( KFDX/KJTL ) — Since 2010, rural Texas has seen 26 hospitals close.

But Nocona General continues to flourish, celebrating 50 years with a groundbreaking to expand its clinic and remodel its emergency room.

“We’re really excited about getting it started,” Nocona General Hospital Board President Charles May said.

According to May, Nocona General has seen an uptick in patients.

The clinic has gone through some upgrades since being purchased in 2019, but the board decided it needed a larger-scale renovation.

“One of them, the primary reasons for the addition to the rooms, is to get specialists so that our people don’t have to drive 50, 100 miles to see a specialist where we can have them to come here and be able to say, ‘I’m here,'” May said.

Bringing in specialists means more jobs for the community.

David Hartwell with BYSP Architects said 2,800 square feet of construction will give them the capacity to better serve the community.

“Those areas, especially the emergency department, [are] being redesigned to be more efficient and to fit how it actually functions now compared to 1995,” Hartwell said.

The clinic room will house five exam rooms and a treatment room. The ER will add one exam and one treatment room — a 50% increase.

“We want to be able to compete,” May said. “Our doctors handle all that. So if you come here, you see the doctor in the clinic, you see the doctor in the emergency room, and you see the doctor as a hospitalist. So you see the same person all the time.”

As Nocona General makes strides to serve the rural community.

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