StrikeNet, BoomTown among this week's business briefs
Physicians Surgical Hospitals recognized as a Best Place to Work in Healthcare in 2024
Physicians Surgical Hospitals announced May 14 it has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. The complete list of this year’s winners, in alphabetical order, is available at ModernHealthcare.com/bestplaceslist. Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring a ranked list of all the winners along with the Oct. 14 issue of MH magazine.
“Where people work has a great impact on their quality of life and we are proud to be recognized by team members for an eleventh time as a best place to work,” said Bryan Bateman, CEO of Physicians Surgical Hospitals. “This consecutive recognition is a testament to our ongoing commitment to building a positive work experience, and we are excited to see the impact our culture of belonging is making each day.”
This award program identifies and recognizes outstanding employers in the healthcare industry nationwide. Modern Healthcare partners with Workforce Research Group on the assessment process, which includes an extensive employee survey. Physicians Surgical Hospitals will find out their ranking on the Best Places list and be celebrated at the 2024 Best Places to Work in Healthcare Awards Gala taking place Oct. 10 in Nashville, Tenn. Information about the gala is available at ModernHealthcare.com/BestPlacesGala.
Pantex develops Panhandle weather tracking app, StrikeNet
When it comes to weather in the Texas Panhandle, what’s happening at one location may be completely different than conditions only a few miles away. For the more than 4,500+ Pantex employees, weather onsite can be vastly different than what is occurring at their homes.
Weather events at Pantex can impact both workers and production, so having access to real-time meteorological data across the entire region is paramount to everyone’s safety. To address regional weather events, Pantex Meteorologist Steve Kersh is working with school districts and private landowners to refurbish and upgrade area-wide weather stations formerly maintained by a local TV station. These sites include new weather and lightning-detection software providing real time data on wind speed, temperature, rainfall, and lightning from each location, which is now available to the public on the StrikeNet website at https://strikenet-tx.com .
Pantex also initiated development of the StrikeNet weather app, which is free and available to the public on Google Play and the App Store.
On both the StrikeNet website and app, all available weather data are listed in its drop-down menu. For example, when lightning maps are enabled, the strikes are represented by the lightning symbol, with the most current strikes in the red circle and the estimated distance from Pantex indicated on the symbol itself.
“Severe weather can have a direct impact on Pantex operations, both from a safety standpoint for our employees and for our mission. Enhancing capabilities that track weather events to specific locations using our newly developed sensors is a huge step forward for the site and our surrounding area,” said Pantex Site Manager Colby Yeary.
Initially,10 sites signed up to the StrikeNet network including schools, homes, ranches, and businesses, with an additional 11 sites quickly added. School officials indicate that the lightning detection data would be used to help with determining whether to seek shelter if and when thunderstorms approach during regular school hours and extracurricular events, while ranchers and farmers can access real-time weather conditions aiding in crop and livestock production.
Pantex views StrikeNet as an opportunity to offer accurate and localized weather information to Texas Panhandle residents, internet users, and weather station owners at no cost.
828 Sports Ventures announces $100 Million BoomTown MultiDome Sports Complex proposed in Borger
BORGER – 828 Sports Ventures will be building one of the largest multisport complexes in Texas in the city of Borger, the Atlanta based company announced this week. The proposed $100 million travel sports destination will be on an estimated 100 acres in Borger.
The BoomTown MultiDome Sports Complex will include many indoor courts and fields supporting up to 17 different sports, a family-style water park attraction inside the AquaDome, meeting spaces, on-site play and stay hotel and restaurants (a combination of national brands and popular local spots). The complex will also have a sports institute and training education area. In addition, it will have the ability to host high school and college graduations and various events for schools and companies in the Borger area. Training for regional first responders will be an important part of the complex as well.
Sports tourism has become a $91.8 billion industry in the United States with research and financial projection data showing that the sports complex is expected to create upwards of $75 million in annual economic impact to the Borger and Panhandle area . The 828 Sports Ventures group predicts up to 1.2-1.5 million visitors to the complex at its peak performance.
A news conference will be held on Wednesday, May 22, in Borger with more details for the planned facility.
TTUHSC School of Medicine faculty member elected to Texas Medical Association Board of Trustees
The Texas Medical Association (TMA) elected Rodney Young, M.D., to the TMA Board of Trustees during TexMed 2024, its annual conference in Dallas. Along with other elected leaders, Young will help shape and implement TMA policies and deliberate various health care issues that impact the health and lives of Texans. Young is believed to be the first Amarillo physician to serve on the TMA board.
“I’m especially proud to be the first known physician from the Panhandle to serve on TMA’s board of trustees,” Young said. “It takes many years of time and commitment within the organization to gain the trust of your colleagues from around the state needed to be elected to the board. That’s a challenging proposition for physicians from places like Amarillo that are so far from Austin.”
Young is a professor and regional chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine on the regional campus in Amarillo. He is a family medicine physician at Texas Tech Physicians Family Medicine.
Young joined TMA nearly 30 years ago as a medical student. A recent member of TMA’s Council on Science and Public Health, Young has chaired multiple councils and committees at TMA including the Council on Socioeconomics, Council on Medical Education and the Committee on Continuing Education.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 57,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state.
Outside the TTUHSC campus, Young serves on the Heal the City Free Clinic Board of Directors and the Amarillo Hospital District Board of Managers; he has also served on the Harrington Cancer and Health Foundation Board of Directors. He is a past president of the Potter-Randall County Medical Society and continues to serve on its Board of Directors.
Amarillo Family Physicians celebrate new facility
The Amarillo Family Physicians hosted a groundbreaking on a new, state-of-the-art medical facility on Wednesdayat 7561 Outlook Dr., directly behind 1500 S. Coulter in the Harrington Regional Medical Complex.
Amarillo Family Physicians was established in 1978 and provides care to some 40,000 people across the Texas Panhandle. The new medical complex will allow them to increase the number of providers and continue to meet the growing medical needs of Amarillo, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, and Eastern New Mexico.
City employee Madison Harrison earns second national certification in pools
Madison Harrison, a city of Amarillo employee in the Environmental Health Department’s Recreational Water Program, has earned her second nationally recognized certification from the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA).
Harrison’s latest certification, Advanced Pool Builder Professional, is level two of four of the Certified Master Pool Builder and Design Professional designation. Harrison joins a group of 12 professionals in the state of Texas with advanced knowledge in pool operation and design.
“We are very proud of Madison and her accomplishment,” said city Director of Environmental Health Anthony Spanel. “Having another highly trained individual on staff sets our program apart from the rest of Texas.”
For more information, contact City of Amarillo Media Relations Manager David Henry at (806) 378-5219 or by email at David.Henry@amarillo.gov.
Center to offer $50K in grants to Texas rural women entrepreneurs
DENTON — The Center for Women Entrepreneurs (CWE), a program of the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership at Texas Woman’s University, will begin accepting applications for its Texas Rural Woman Grant on May 28.
Ten $5,000 grants, for a total of $50,000, will be awarded to qualified Texas rural women who have formed their own businesses. This will be the second year the grant has been offered to help women in rural areas who need capital to expand their businesses. A completed online application must be submitted before 5 p.m. on July 5. Winners will be announced on July 23.
For more information, FAQs or to apply, visit the Texas Rural Grant website.
$225,000 awarded to finalists of 2023-24 Amarillo EnterPrize Challenge
Three businesses in Potter and Randall counties each were awarded $75,000 during the 27th annual Amarillo EnterPrize Challenge award ceremony May 9.
The Amarillo EnterPrize Challenge is a business plan competition managed by the WT Enterprise Center, a department of the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business, and funded by the Amarillo Economic Development Corp.
Awardees honored May 9 at the WT Enterprise Center, 2300 N. Western St. in Amarillo, were Amarillo Legacy Monument, Hi-Plains Civil Engineers and Slicks Fabworks. Since the WT Enterprise Center started managing the Amarillo EnterPrize Challenge program in 2009, awardees have reported more than $1.48 billion in revenue, more than $401 million in payroll and more than $76 million in capital investments.