The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced that it had selected 25 organizations to receive grants totaling $78 million to “develop professional pathways to nursing.” The list of recipients includes only one organization in Texas. It’s the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, which is based in Mercedes. A grant of $3 million was awarded to VIDA to help train and develop more nursing professionals in the Rio Grande Valley. …
Rio Grande Regional Hospital has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons for its patient care and outcomes in aortic valve replacement combined with coronary artery bypass grafting. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest quality category, places RGRH among the elite for AVR+CABG surgery in the United States and Canada. Rio Grande Regional Hospital is the only hospital in south Texas to currently hold a…
The UTRGV School of Medicine recently completed the final stage of accreditation required by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. UTRGV President Guy Bailey said this significant milestone, while expected, is also important for the Rio Grande Valley. Moving forward, the school can now increase the number of students it is able to admit each year. Being able to develop and train more future doctors will also allow the School of…
In fourth grade, Victoria Rivera moved in with her grandparents. Despite financial struggles, they provided their granddaughter with a home, stability and love. In 2017, Rivera graduated from Brownsville Early College High School. She took advantage of the opportunity to take college courses while in high school, graduating with a high-school diploma and dual-enrollment credit from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Unlike many high-school graduates today, Rivera did…
The community partnership between the UTRGV School of Medicine, UT Health RGV and Hidalgo County Precinct 4 hosted a ribbon-cutting last week for the new UT Health RGV AHEC Primary Care Annex Building. The new annex clinic will open its door to patients on May 30, increasing availability for primary healthcare for the underserved San Carlos community. ‘Extremely Successful’ Six years ago, in 2018, the Hidalgo County Precinct 4 and the…
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division have announced an agreement to bring 30 resident physicians to Brownsville and McAllen by summer 2024, with plans to seat 150 total resident physician positions by 2029. Residents from the UTRGV School of Medicine will train at HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division affiliate hospitals Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen and Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville. This is the first…
UTRGV and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas recently gathered in McAllen with community leaders and key legislators to celebrate a five-year, $6-million award from CPRIT to the university’s South Texas Center of Excellence in Cancer Research. The ST-CECR grant is the first of its kind and amount for the academic medical institution and the border community, and is part of CPRIT’s Texas Regional Excellence and Cancer Award…
Angela Menchaca was a busy physician assistant, rotating among cardiac clinics in Edinburg when she felt the pull to be closer to her Weslaco home with a young daughter to raise. Her best option was one she knew well. Her husband, Michael, is a family nurse practitioner who has opened a direct primary care clinic in Harlingen. It’s not a clinic like many others with long patient waits. There are…
The Hope Family Health Center has expanded into to the Mid-Valley with the opening of the HOPE Mid-Valley Clinic in Weslaco on Jan. 23. HOPE offers free counseling services to the low-income, uninsured people in the Rio Grande Valley. HOPE’s counseling services treat depression, anxiety, trauma and grief. The center is possible with the help of the Knapp Community Care Foundation, which makes grant distributions to fund nonprofit organizations that impact,…
The UTRGV School of Medicine recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Valley Grande Institute for Academic Studies to strengthen the pipeline between the two institutions in training allied health professionals. The program will prepare students to be part of healthcare teams by exposing them to clinical procedures under the direct supervision of UTRGV faculty or staff. This includes UT Health RGV clinical nurse educators and staff registered nurses. “The…