Healthcare
With outstanding medical facilities and personnel, Lufkin and Angelina County have become the regional health care hub of Central East Texas. Boasting two major hospitals, a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic, various specialized treatment facilities, a hospitality house, assisted living centers, and several nursing homes, Lufkin has the reputation for excellent health care and cutting edge medical technology.
Hospitals:
CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial Lufkin and Woodland Heights Medical Center, both award-winning facilities, offer services in Angelina County, as well as surrounding counties.
CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial Lufkin serves a 14 county area. The system provides comprehensive health care delivery services through hospitals in Lufkin, Livingston, and San Augustine, a primary care clinic, home health offices, and other affiliated health care facilities. Founded in 1949 by local industry leaders, the hospital is currently licensed for 271 beds. The hospital serves as a comprehensive medical and surgical facility, and as a regional referral center for the system’s service area. Centers of excellence within CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial Lufkin include HeartFirst, a regional cardiac care center affiliated with the Methodist-DeBakey Heart Center – Houston, and the Arthur Temple, Sr., Regional Cancer Center, also known for its excellence, Horace C. Polk Regional Diabetes Center, W. Temple Weber Resonance Imaging Center, and Wilson McKewen Rehabilitation Center.
The Heart Center at Woodland Heights Medical Center is among the national’s best for cardiac services. Woodland Heights Medical Center is recognized as one of the top 5 percent hospitals in the nation for cardiac care. Woodland Heights also is ranked number two in Texas for Cardiology and cardiac interventional procedures. With a staff of more than 200 professionals, the hospital offers a comprehensive list of medical and surgical specialties and treatment modalities. Woodland Heights provides inpatient surgical and critical care services, as well as women’s health, rehabilitation and skilled nursing services. Outpatient services include laboratory, advanced diagnostic imaging, including digital CT and MRI, physical and cardiac rehabilitation services, emergency services, and ambulatory surgery.
The Heart Center at Woodland Heights was the first to bring cardiac catheterization and open-heart surgery to Lufkin. Services provided by the Heart Center include catheterizations, open-heart surgery, vascular graft procedures, pacemaker installation, invasive cardiology procedures, including angioplasty, and stent placement.
In recognition of 15 years of excellence in cardiac care, the hospital recently remodeled and enlarged the Heart Center’s cardiac catheterization department and installed the latest cardiac imaging technology. The catheterization lab, the first between Tyler and Houston, provides physicians with the high quality, well-defined cardiac and vascular images critical for accurate diagnosis and for performing delicate interventional heart procedures.
The expanded department allows heart patients to remain in the cath unit from admission through recovery and discharge, offering the convenience and continuity important for heart patients and their families.
Health District:
The Angelina County and Cities Health District was organized by community leaders in 1967 to protect and promote public health in Angelina County. Located at 503 Hill Street in Lufkin, the Health District offers full service public health programs through the Texas Department of Health. For information call 936. 632.1139. Services provided include:
- WIC Nutrition Program
- Immunization and flu shots
- STD/TB testing and treatment
- HIV testing and counseling
- Primary Care Clinic
- Prenatal and children’s health services
- Social Services
- Environmental and consumer health
- On-site wastewater licensing
Veterans Administration Clinic:
The Charles Wilson VA Outpatient Clinic provides board-certified primary care, surgical and psychiatric nursing care, radiology testing, pharmacy, benefits counseling and veterans’ claims assistance. For more information, call 936.637.1342.
Specialty Care:
Angelina County offers an extension list of specialized physicians to provide the best care. Specialty care includes: Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Cardiovascular, Clinical Allergy, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Family Practice, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Hyperbaric Medicine, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Neurological Surgery, OB/GYN, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Oral Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physiatry, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry, Podiatry, Pulmonology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Thoracic Surgery, and Urology.
Adult Day Care:
The Salvation Army Adult Day Care Center in Lufkin provides loving care a step above what senior citizens might get at home alone and is an alternative to a nursing home. Workers at the 8,000 square foot facility on Shands Drive, off Hill Street, care for adults age 55 and older in Angelina County and the surrounding area. The center is located in close proximity to Lufkin’s two hospitals.
Indoor and outdoor activities provided are musical and theatrical visiting groups, crafts, dominoes, bingo, indoor golf, daily devotions, current events, trivia, exercise, movies, table games and field trips. A dietician plans breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack menus. The center has medical supervision that includes a fulltime LVN and an RN consultant. Visiting beautician provides hair and nail care. For more information call 936.634.1234.
Hospice in the Pines:
Hospice in the Pines is in its 19th year and serves a large 10-county region in East Texas and maintains its offices in two historic homes on South Raguet Street. Recent expansion provides a new in-patient hospital unit to its extensive program of hands-on help to patients with life-limiting illness. Hospice in the Pines’ goal is to make a patient comfortable at home, as long as possible, with an option of round the clock short term hospital care, staffed by Hospice, for the final days. The Inpatient Hospice Unit is located in a five room area in Memorial Health System of East Texas in Lufkin.
According to the mission statement of the not-for-profit Hospice organization, the mission of Hospice is to strive in all ways possible to relieve the physical, emotional, and spiritual pain brought on by a life-limited illness. For more information call 936.632.1514 or visit (www.hospiceinthepines.com).
Joe W. Elliott House:
The Joe W. Elliott House, established in 1994 as a memorial to Diboll banker Joe W. Elliott, is a hospitality ministry, offering a place for out-of-town patients and their family members to stay while receiving medical treatment in Lufkin. Operated as a joint venture by Hospice in the Pines and Memorial Health Systems of East Texas, the facility provides inexpensive lodging, laundry and kitchen facilities, and necessities that may have been forgotten by the patient. Located within walking distance of Memorial Health Systems of East Texas on Gene Sanford Drive, staff includes three full time employees, hospice chaplain, and many dedicated volunteers. For more information call 936.631.3400 or visit (www.memorialhealth.us/community/joe-elliott-house) .
Blood Center of East Texas:
The Blood Center of East Texas, located in the Frank Avenue Medical Center, is the primary supplier of blood components to eight hospitals including Memorial Health Systems in Lufkin, Livingston, and San Augustine, Lufkin’s Woodland Heights Medical Center, Nacogdoches Medical Center and Memorial Hospitals, Sabine County Hospital in Hemphill and Shelby Regional Medical Center in Center. For more information call 936.634.2116 or visit (www.giveblood.org) .
Stewart Regional Blood Center:
Stewart Blood Center in its 55th year in East Texas, serving 28 counties, Lufkin’s center is in its third year at its new location on South John Redditt Drive. Regional centers are located in Lufkin, Tyler, Paris, Mount Pleasant, Marshall and Longview. The center collects 150 to 200 units of blood a day, to ensure area hospitals and adequate supply. For more information call 936.639.1534.
Burke Center:
Burke Center serves a 12-county area providing outpatient drug care and a halfway house to patients with drug abuse. The center administers care with support groups and other therapeutic environments. For more information call 936.875.4910 or (www.burke-center.org).