Medical City Green Oaks celebrates 40th anniversary
Medical City Green Oaks celebrates 40 years of providing mental health services for the North Texas community.
Dallas, Texas — Medical City Green Oaks this week celebrates 40 years of providing mental health services for the North Texas community. Hospital staff and special guests gathered Wednesday on the 124-bed inpatient hospital’s campus to commemorate the facility’s opening in November 1983.
On Tuesday, the Dallas County Commissioners Court adopted a formal resolution recognizing the anniversary and commending Medical City Green Oaks for its “success and outstanding service to Dallas County.”
The facility began as a 106-bed private psychiatric hospital founded by the late Robert J. Wright — who also founded the Medical City Dallas complex. After the hospital opened, the staff planted a commemorative oak tree on the campus. That tree has grown over the decades, just as Medical City Green Oaks facilities and services have grown and expanded, providing a full continuum of high-quality psychiatric services for adolescents and adults, including outpatient services. As part of the 40th-anniversary celebration, a new tree will be planted on the campus to grow with Medical City Green Oaks as it continues to care for the community.
Medical City Green Oaks leaders at the 40-year tree.
“Our mission today at Medical City Green Oaks is the same as it was 40 years ago – to provide vitally needed, accessible mental health services for our community,” says Medical City Green Oaks CEO Krysla Karlix. “As part of Medical City Healthcare and HCA Healthcare, we have access to even greater resources that help us continue expanding and enhancing services to include innovative therapies such as TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) for treatment-resistant depression and participating in clinical trials and research through HCA Healthcare Research Institute to remain a leader in psychiatric care. Our founder would be proud.”
Today, Medical City Green Oaks provides treatment for a wide range of conditions, including suicidality, depression, anxiety, substance use and bipolar and other mood disorders, including schizophrenia. The facility offers ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) services in a newly expanded suite, as well as 24-hour inpatient psychiatric care. Medical City Green Oaks offers a wide variety of outpatient services at two locations (Dallas and Plano) and provides telepsychiatry services to all Medical City Healthcare hospitals across North Texas.
Here are some highlights from Medical City Green Oaks’ 40-year history:
- 1983: Robert Wright, founder of Medical City Dallas, opened Green Oaks Hospital on Nov. 7, 1983, operating as a private psychiatric hospital.
- 1993: Founder Robert Wright hired Tom Collins to serve as the hospital’s CEO, a position Collins held until his retirement in 2022.
- 1996: The hospital began offering ECT services, considered the gold standard for treating severe depression and other mood disorders.
- 1997: Columbia Healthcare Corp., which later merged with HCA Healthcare, acquired the hospital.
- 2001: Green Oaks contracted with the Texas Department of State Health Services and the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority to serve as the psychiatric hospital for NorthSTAR, providing managed care delivery of mental health and substance use disorder services. The hospital included a psychiatric emergency room and served as the “front door” for the counties of Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall through 2018, serving up to 26,000 patients annually.
- 2013: Added 18 licensed beds while operating outpatient clinics in Dallas and Plano.
- 2017: The hospital name changed to Medical City Green Oaks.
- 2021: Medical City Green Oaks was recognized with the Unit of Distinction Award, one of HCA Healthcare’s highest nursing awards, for both adult and adolescent services.
- 2023: Medical City Green Oaks celebrates 40 years of service to the community.
Along with Medical City Green Oaks, Medical City Healthcare has a proud history of serving mental health needs across North Texas. This includes services provided through Medical City Behavioral Health at Medical City McKinney and the new, $50 million Medical City Mental Health & Wellness Alliance facility currently under construction on the campus of Medical City Alliance in northeast Fort Worth, part of a partnership with parent company HCA Healthcare.