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.