Category Archives: Healthcare

Food Bank of the RGV Receives $20K Donation

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

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

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

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

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

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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RGV Communities Limit Size Of Public Gatherings 

Counties and cities across the Rio Grande Valley moved quickly on Tuesday to enact new measures to encourage social distancing and limit the number of people allowed in public places to counter the dangers and potential outbreak of the coronavirus. Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued a disaster declaration due to a public health emergency after conferring with leaders of the county’s 22 cities. The declaration became effective Tuesday and…

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Making Their Mark In Healthcare

Vocational nursing students at Valley Grande Institute do skills practice in a lab.

Anabell Cardona was 15-years plus into managing clinics and doctors’ offices in Weslaco and McAllen. It was then she figured the time was right, in her mid-30s, to make a career breakthrough. Cardona recalls having no fear in 2001 as she sat in front of a banker and faced a business loan with six figures in it. She was ready to purchase Valley Grande Institute of Weslaco. “Where do I…

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Partnership Leads to New Careers For GED Grads

TSTC Phlebotomy Technician

Students pursuing a General Educational Development diploma through the Brownsville Independent School District can also now train and get certified as a phlebotomist through TSTC’s Workforce Training and Continuing Education department. The offering comes with a new partnership between Texas State Technical College and the BISD Adult Continuing Education program. “This is the first time we have partnered with BISD in this capacity,” said Myra De Leon, Workforce Training and…

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School of Medicine Clinics Broaden Reach

Dr. Sawyer Lambert, an optometrist at the UT Health RGV Vision Center, provides one of the many different types of medical services offered at clinics in the Valley. (Photo provided by UT Health RGV).

The UT Health RGV/Knapp Family Health Center in Mercedes sits across the street from a high school for medical professions. For Dr. Miguel Tello, the proximity of the health center he oversees to the South Texas ISD High School of Medical Professions is more than symbolic. It points to the range of possibilities now available to Rio Grande Valley youth.  “The whole cycle” is how Tello puts it in noting…

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