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Medical center honors its 1st baby born
Published November 15, 2009
ANGLETON — Forty years after being the first baby born at Angleton Danbury Medical Center, Laurie Davila Villarreal Zepeda has amassed a long resumé of service to her church, family and community.
Her light is exactly what hospital officials were hoping to shine on their 40th anniversary celebration, and hers.
“It makes me feel special, and younger somehow,” the cheerful mother of two said with a laugh. “All the articles say it was me and it was a cute baby in pictures, so it had to be me.”
When hospital spokeswoman Tonya Visor sent Zepeda a note on the social Internet site “Facebook” to invite her to the entity’s 40th anniversary, she was pleasantly surprised.
“At first, I thought, ‘Really? Celebrated for being born?’ I felt honored,” Zepeda said. “I don’t remember it, but you always feel honored when someone remembers you.”
Thursday’s come-and-go party from 5 to 7 p.m. is only part of the celebration. Hospital officials are hosting a food drive Tuesday, a coat drive Wednesday and a toy drive Friday.
“Caring for the community is the mission and has been the mission for 40 years,” Visor said. “We’re excited to be here, caring for the people and providing services. Having Laurie here makes it really special. Everybody is looking forward to meeting her.”
BABY GIRL DAVILA
The hospital was formed after the 60th Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 104 to create the Angleton Danbury Hospital District in May, 1967. The Hospital District is a tax-supported institution governed by an elected board of Directors, Visor said.
Angleton Danbury General Hospital opened on Nov. 15, 1969 with 34 licensed beds, according to hospital history. “Baby Girl” Davila was born on Nov. 18, 1969, and this week, Zepeda is again the guest of honor.
Zepeda has spent her adult life helping others. In the past 20 years, she has served with the Mike Barber Prison ministry, visiting women’s prisons in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and she is part of the Trinity Church prison ministry in Rosharon.
She has served as a children’s minister, in teen and women’s ministry, has been on several missions trips to Mexico, served with the Marlin, Texas Bread of Life Church prison ministry and serves with the women’s “Piercing the Darkness” ministry.
Married to Joey Zepeda, the Tomball couple has two girls, ages 5 and 20. Despite a long list of service, she said, “being a wife and mother is what I consider my highest calling.”
Zepeda lived in Angleton for several years before moving with her family to Katy. She’s the daughter of Mary Ann Ng of Katy and Albert Davila of St. Louis, Mo.
AN IMPORTANT ASSET
Angleton Danbury adds value and caring to the community, Angleton Economic Development Director Patti Worfe said.
“The hospital has been a tremendous asset in promoting Angleton and the wonderful things we have to offer,” Worfe said. “We’re very fortunate to have a hospital here to call our own.”
Forty years ago, Doys A. Spence was the first patient, admitted Nov. 15, 1969.
Need for hospital services grew, and in 1974 the community raised funds to add more beds. The M.D. Anderson Trust matched those funds to complete the East Wing, bringing the total number of licensed beds to 54.
In October 1984, the community passed a
$9 million bond and in May 1989, and construction bringing the number of beds to 64 was completed. In the 1990s, as demand increased for outpatient services, plans were initiated to add three operating rooms with a shell for a fourth, and a cardiac catheterization lab with state-of-the-art equipment.
An observation room rounded out the additions paid for by $7 million in cash reserves. The 27,400 square foot Surgical and Cardiac Care Center was completed in 1999, when the hospital’s name was changed to Angleton Danbury Medical Center.
Also in 1999, the board of directors agreed on master facilities plan and in the spring of 2000, the Frank W. Stevens Health and Wellness Center was completed, using state tobacco settlement money.
A COMMUNITY PARTNER
The hospital is more than a business, Greater Angleton Chamber of Commerce CEO Beth Journeay said.
“They’re a huge community partner,” Journeay said.
Growth of the communities served by the hospital and changes in the medical field led to the completion of a six-phase project in 2006. Using a $20.3 million bond, a $400,000 donation from the Peklo family and $97,000 from the Hospital Auxiliary, the facility’s most-recent expansion was completed in March 2006.
The hospital attracts medical professionals and their families, who in turn support the community in many ways, Journeay said.
“But it’s not only from the professional, medical service they provide,” she said. “They also participate in and create community events that add to the quality of life of Angleton.”
At 40 years, Angleton Danbury now annually serves 16,000 patients in the emergency department, boasts innovative patient care with state-of-the-art technology, inpatient and outpatient surgery, an Intensive Care Unit and women’s health care in the Peklo Women’s Pavilion, officials said.
Emergency room and outpatient care are “first class,” Angleton Mayor J. Patrick Henry said.
“The hospital provides a tremendous service to the community,” Henry said. “We’re looking forward to another 40 years.”
The 81st Texas Legislature this year passed a resolution commending the hospital for four decades serving the community while growing to keep up with needs.
Regardless of growth or changes at the hospital, Zepeda and her family will always know it as the place she was born. Her grandfather, Angleton resident Nolberto Villarreal, continues to remind Zepeda of those roots.
“It’s one of the things he always talks about,” she said. “He takes a lot of pride in the fact that I was the first grand girl born there.”
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