On a recent walk through the musty, now-gutted eighth floor of University Medical Center of El Paso, newly-appointed hospital CEO Maria Zampini felt a sense of nostalgia as she passed the empty rooms that administration once occupied.
Those offices are set for renovations into patient observation rooms, one of the projects in the $396.6 million bond El Paso County voters approved in 2024.
Zampini stepped into her old corner office, recalling the rumble of helicopters transporting trauma patients landing on the adjacent rooftop helipad. She has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years, starting as a director of guest services when UMC was known as Thomason General Hospital…