A viable and attractive heath care market, League City attracts celebrity attention, new business...

It's rare to see kids so excited about washing their hands. Chalk it up to star power.

On Jan. 27, more than 1,000 Goforth Elementary School students gathered for a celebrity assembly. Mitchel Musso, best known as Oliver "Smoken" Oken on the "Hannah Montana" show, had come as part of a nationwide awareness campaign, Clean Hands are Cool Hands.

He was joined by Dr. James Vincent, a pediatric ER physician at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center (CLRMC). Together, they taught the kids about germs and the importance of washing your hands.

Specifically, they talked about MRSA, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Hospital Corporation of America, a national healthcare company and operator of CLRMC, wants to greatly increase the awareness and prevention of MRSA, a serious drug-resistant staph infection. (For more on MRSA, see the sidebar.)

The more important issue for League City's economy is our growing local health care industry. You could say we have a little star power of our own.

Goforth is located in the Tuscan Lakes development, off of FM 96. In addition to its reputation and diverse student body, HCA chose the school because it lies in an important service area for CLRMC. The hospital is in Webster, but League City supplies many of its patients.

The growing population in the southern portion of League City has also attracted another large Texas medical institution. University of Texas Medical Branch has purchased 64 acres along FM 646 near the Victory Lakes development. It has already begun construction on a two-story, 110,000-square-foot facility.

Then, in mid-February, in a somewhat surprising move, management-consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates made an official recommendation that UTMB move the majority of its hospital operations from Galveston to League City. The school and hospital complex sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Ike, and it has been investigating the best way to return services to the area.

According to Doug Frazior, League City's economic development coordinator, the city makes sense for UTMB -more UTMB Galveston employees live here than anywhere else - but he would also be sad if the facility left Galveston. No one in League City wants to see the island suffer any worse than it already has.

Plus, even if the UTMB facility in League City remained its current size, Frazior is confident it will help attract more health care businesses and organizations. Some of them could end up on UTMB's campus if it has remaining acres.

Bottom line, League City is attracting national celebrities now, but in the near future, we hope to attract national headquarters and health care companies that will make a significant positive impact on our communities and our economy.

We'll keep you up-to-date. In the meantime, visit LeagueCityEDC.com for more information about League City and its economic advantages.

MRSA Info
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacteria that can cause infection in various parts of the body. It's resistant to commonly used antibiotics, so a MRSA infection is tougher to treat than most types of "staph" infection.

Garden-variety staph is common: 25-30% of us are "colonized," which means we carry the bacteria somewhere on our body. It's only a problem, however, if it gets into the body through a cut or ingestion. Still, it can be treated with antibiotics.

Some strains of staph - like MRSA - have developed a resistance to antibiotics. About 1% of us are colonized by MRSA. The symptoms of MRSA can range from pimples or boils to more serious infection in the bloodstream, the lungs or the urinary tract. Last year, there were more than 19,000 deaths in the United States related to MRSA. Children are more susceptible than adults.

Most cases of MRSA develop in hospitals, but nearly 15% of cases are classified as "community associated." This means that an otherwise healthy person contracted the bacteria and became infected through a social activity. Often, this occurs in populations that share close quarters or experience high skin-to-skin contact. One example would be school or team athletics - hence HCA's focus on schools.

The focus on children is also warranted. One study of children in south Texas found that cases of community-associated MRSA increased 14-fold between 1999 and 2001.

Whether it's hospital or community associated, the best way to stop the spread of MRSA? Washing hands.

For more information about MRSA, visit CDC.gov.