LARGO, Md. — Prince George’s County leaders gathered in a vacant store front at the Boulevard at the Capital Centre Friday — the location for a new hospital center set to be the second biggest shock trauma center in the state.
The state issued a certificate of need for a new hospital center — the Prince George’s County Regional Medical Center — which was approved by the Maryland Health Care Commission on Thursday. The new hospital will help with the need for health care in the region, said Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker.
“This will change our relationship with the southern part of the state, but it’ll also change our relationship with the District of Columbia and allow us to provide quality health care throughout the region,” Baker said Friday.
As part of the University of Maryland Medical System, the new hospital will be a teaching center for the University of Maryland Medical School, and is expected to provide a big boost to the primary care system in the region. The new facility will include two helipads and a large emergency department, as well as room for hundreds of patients at a time.
Baker, who delivered his second child on the side of Route 50 when he couldn’t get to a hospital in D.C. in time, joked, “I don’t want anybody else to try to practice medicine without a license.”
But then Baker got serious, saying, “More importantly, I don’t want anybody ever, ever In Prince George’s County and in the southern region, to think that they have to go elsewhere for quality health care.”
County leaders also envision the area redeveloping into what will become known as “Downtown Largo,” with new medical offices locating nearby to go with housing, hotels, and retail. In addition the main offices of Prince George’s County will be moving about a quarter-mile away, though the county seat will remain in Upper Marlboro.
Design of the medical center continues, and the date of the groundbreaking will be announced at a later date, leaders said.
Watch a video of its rendering:
