MEDICAL FACILITIES BUILT

Dr. Jelsma is one of the original founders and longstanding board members of Heritage Park Surgical Hospital.   It started as an ambulatory surgery center in 2006, changed to a hospital in 2010, and became part of the Baylor Scott and White healthcare system in 2015.  His vision was to create an outstanding, patient focused, surgical hospital in Sherman, Texas.  He wanted to create a facility that was run by doctors, as they understand the needs of their patients better than hospital administrators, who are not engaged directly in patient care.  The hospital is one of very few in North Texas and the only hospital in Grayson County that has received a five star rating from the government for patient satisfaction.   Numerous national awards over the past six years have recognized this hospital for its quality of care and patient satisfaction. It received the highest possible five star ratings in multiple years from organizations as varied as the Women’s Choice awards, Apex Voyance quality awards, CMS, Healthgrades, and the state of Texas.  It has been recognized as a Top 100 hospital in the United States for patient satisfaction in USA Today, and as a Top 100 hospital in United States for orthopedic surgery by Women’s Choice.  Most recently, it received a 5 star rating for quality of care by the federal government.  For comparison, during the same  period the other two local hospitals received only 3 stars and 1 star.

Dr. Jelsma was an integral part of a small group of physicians who wanted to build a hospital from the ground up with one goal:  a gold standard of care in a safe, friendly environment for our patients and the people in our community.  To make this happen, physicians recruited nurses and support staff who shared that same goal.   This is not just rhetoric.  The hospital is intentionally designed to have fewer administrators and more nursing staff involved in direct care of the patient. Baylor Sherman has one of the highest nurse to patient ratios in the hospital industry.  For example, many hospitals have one nurse assigned to care for up to 7 or 8 patients at once, but at our hospital the physician leaders made sure a nurse never cares for more than 3 or 4 patients at any given time.  Dr. Jelsma and these doctors understand it is impossible for one human being to properly meet the needs of seven patients at the same time.  Statistics show this approach works.  Baylor Sherman also has one of the lowest infection rates in the country, and the lowest in the local area.  The doctors who founded the hospital decided to make it a surgical hospital only, so that surgical patients were not exposed to any cross contamination from infectious disease patients in the same hospital.  Therefore, a specialized facility for these patients needed to be created as a separate facility.  Since its inception, the hospital has consistently had lower infection rates, lower complication rates, and higher patient satisfaction rates than other hospitals in the area and nationally.  And the hospital treats all patients, regardless of insurance status. Approximately 50 percent of Baylor Sherman patients are on Medicare or Medicaid.