BY JONATHAN CANNON

HERALD DEMOCRAT

DENISON -- After more than a year of waiting, Texoma residents got a look Wednesday inside the new Texoma Medical Center after the building's ribbon cutting.

Greeted with a cascading water feature and plush furnishing, ceremony attendees filled the facility's lavish lobby to escape the cold.

"We think it's just fantastic. It's state of the art everything," said Sherman residents Charles and Eddie Whitfield. "We're lucking to have such a nice hospital."

"I can remember being here on June 4, 2008. Now here we are cutting the ribbon," said TMC Board Chair Jerdy Gary to more than 200 at the ceremony. "Dreams really do come true."

Gary pointed to the sprawl of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex into the area as cause for the state of the art hospital. "It's important to say we haven't been passively waiting," he said. This "hospital will rival the very best hospital in the Metroplex."

"As you can see Texoma Medical Center has moved from a small town community hospital to a major regional hospital," added Mike Marquez, UHS Acute Care Division President.

Speakers applauded the hospital staff, administration and board for their collaboration and commitment to the hospital, its patients and the community.

Former TMC patient Gene Berick echoed the praise of the staff, recounting a trip to the hospital that led to a triple bypass and a second trip when his lungs filled with fluid. "Those are good people in the ICU (intensive care unit). They were fantastic," he said. "I'll never forget them."

Denison Mayor Robert Brady also recognized those who contributed to the new facility on U.S. Highway 75, and Grayson County Judge Drue Bynum pointed to their camaraderie.

"This a true tribute and testament to collaboration," Bynum said. "The days of competing within the county are over. We're competing with North Texas, we're competing within the state and we're competing in the nation."

Dr. W. Mackey Watkins, TMC Chief Executive Officer, also praised local leadership for their support of the project and UHS for its commitment to Denison.

"When TMC was acquired three years ago by Universal Health Service, the most important condition of that agreement was their commitment to build our community a new hospital," he said. "And despite our nation's economic crisis, which almost coincided with the groundbreaking ceremony, UHS never faltered, they never delayed, they never postponed, they never modified their commitment to build this ... hospital that we're sitting next to."