Category Archives: Healthcare

STC Summer Offers Some Face-to-Face Instruction

Education Featured Healthcare Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
STC Summer 2020

Some face-to-face classes are gradually returning to South Texas College this summer after integration of federal, state and county safety protocols. STC will begin in-person courses for select programs and will continue for summer courses which officially begin on June 1. STC is currently open for its police and fire academies at the Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence. Throughout the week of April 27, nearly 200 students were completing…

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School of Medicine Holds Virtual Commencement

Education Healthcare News Comments
Dr. John Krouse addresses the inaugural Class of 2020 remotely. (Courtesy)

On May 9, the graduating class of the UTRGV School of Medicine made history, both as the inaugural class and graduating via a virtual ceremony. The ceremony was a poignant way to honor the challenges graduates now heading into a time of pandemic. Online participants and visitors heard messages from both UTRGV and UT System leaders. Keynote speaker was Dr. Kenneth Shine, former executive vice chancellor for Health Affairs for…

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Student Helps by Printing Protection

Education Featured Giving Back Healthcare News Comments
Julio Garza found a niche creating protective face shields for healthcare providers. (photo STC)

It initially began as a way to help protect his mother Cecilia, a nurse at several healthcare agencies in the Valley. Julio Garza now runs an effort to support the medical community in the region as a whole.   Garza, 23, says he found a niche creating protective face shields for healthcare providers by utilizing 3D printing techniques he learned as a student with the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program at…

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RGV Businesses Move Quickly To New Normal

Healthcare News Professional Services Retail Comments
Family Nurse Practitioner Michael Menchaca is at 100-percent telemedicine during the coronavirus crisis. (Courtesy)

Rio Grande Valley businesses, like those around the country, are dealing with disruptions and an upheaval in a way of life unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes.  Here’s a look at how three RGV businesses prepared for what they knew was coming and how they are doing in adapting to a new normal. Menchaca Family Clinic Michael Menchaca didn’t wait for any official announcements for Menchaca Family Clinic. The family…

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Food Bank of the RGV Receives $20K Donation

Featured Giving Back Healthcare Non-Profit Comments
Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, HCA Healthcare Foundation

The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley is the recipient of $20,000 in grants from the HCA Healthcare Foundation. The food bank will use the funds in its Coronavirus Resource Readiness and Response Campaign. HCA Healthcare Foundation is a a tax exempt trust and the philanthropic arm of HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers. Locally, Valley Regional Medical Center and Rio Grande Regional Hospital are affiliates…

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Medical School Dean Predicts Early-May Peak in RGV

Community Featured Healthcare News Comments
ohn Krouse at the Innovation, Transformation and Disruption panel in January. (UTRGV School of Medicine photo)

The dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine believes strict stay-at-home orders will likely lead to the coronavirus spread peaking in early May in the Rio Grande Valley.  Dr. John Krouse said models he is seeing suggest the Valley is coming up to its COVID-19 peak time. “The latest models I’m seeing coming out of the state are looking at a peak, perhaps in early May,” Krouse said during a…

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Area Hospitals Seek PPE Donations

Community Featured Healthcare News Comments

In their effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, two Brownsville-area hospitals are reaching out to the business community for assistance in obtaining personal protective equipment. Both Valley Baptist Medical Center and Valley Regional Medical Center are low in supplies. The hospitals are looking to purchase or borrow and replace PPE equipment. This includes face shields, gloves, masks and other types of PPE. They are looking for all types of PPE,…

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A Healthy Dose of Success

e-Brief Features Education Healthcare News Comments
TSC Licensed Vocational Nursing students. (photo TSC)

Working to fill a national nursing shortage, the Licensed Vocational Nursing program at Texas Southmost College recently saw its largest graduating class. In addition, it is maintaining a solid 92-percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination. “I am so proud of what our team and students have been able to achieve,” said TSC Vocational Nursing interim program director Molly Showalter. “This type of success gives our program a…

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Local Drive-Through Coronavirus Testing Begins

Community Featured Government Healthcare News Comments
coronavirus

Starr County began offering drive-through coronavirus testing on Sunday while Cameron and Hidalgo counties saw their number of COVID-19 cases grow over the weekend. The first coronavirus-confirmed patient in Hidalgo County is from McAllen. The second also resides in the county, but health officials did not state in which city the patient lives. Both patients were infected away from the Rio Grande Valley before returning home and showing symptoms. Cameron…

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RGV Sees First COVID-19 Case

Community Featured Government Healthcare News Comments

The Rio Grande Valley reported its first travel-related coronavirus case Thursday evening. This comes on the same day Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the temporary closing of schools, restaurant dining areas, gyms and bars statewide. A 21-year-old man from Rancho Viejo tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling to Spain and Ireland from March 5-12. He began feeling the coronavirus symptoms of fever and cough and then went to Valley Baptist Medical…

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