As originally published by Mega Doctor NEWS newsprint edition May 2021
Mega Doctor News is proud to bring an article that talks about Dr. Amy Young, chief clinical officer at UT Health Austin. “It was like the moon landing, or when those Chilean miners were rescued after being trapped underground in 2010. I watched as trucks pulled away from loading docks carrying the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine, and I thought, ‘We’re all watching this together; people all over the country are sharing this event.’ It was that important. And, for me, what made it even more exciting was knowing that one of those trucks was heading straight to Austin.” More in this issue.
Congratulations to Mission Regional Medical Center, a member of Prime Healthcare Foundation, has been named to the Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals® list. This is the second time Mission Regional has been recognized with this honor as one of the top performing hospitals in the U.S. The annual list was published by Fortune.
What an honor. Adrian David Barrera celebrated the day he was born the day he graduated to officially become a medical doctor. Born and raised in Rio Grande City, Barrera is the first to go to college and the first doctor in the family. He said he is blessed to have parents, Lisa and Jerry, and grandparents, Josefa and Cipriano Lopez, that provided motivation and support throughout his life. Their words of encouragement, he said, helped him get through the four grueling years of medical school.
Outstanding! As the number of patients with COVID-19 continues to increase nationally, DHR Health Institute for Research and Development, which is affiliated with DHR Health, is pursuing innovative ways to treat patients infected with the potentially life-threatening disease. Through this study, first coordinated by the Mayo Clinic,DHR Health continues to provide convalescent-plasma therapy to patients in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) hospitalized with severe COVID-19.
In an effort of meeting community needs, the Rio Grande Regional Hospital (RGRH) announced the launch of a new Ceribell Rapid Response Electroencephalogram (EEG) program to ensure optimal care is provided for critically ill patients. Currently, Rio Grande Regional Hospital is the FIRST and ONLY hospital in the Rio Grande Valley to use such innovative technology to reduce seizures and loss of brain activity.
Dedication pays off. Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville’s Paul Luna has made it his life’s mission to offer emotional and spiritual support to patients, their families, and hospital employees.
While an unprecedented global pandemic made that mission more difficult, Luna, a Board-Certified Chaplain and the hospital’s Pastoral Services Supervisor, knew his community needed him to be equal to that challenge. For those efforts to provide comfort to all, especially COVID patients who could not be visited by family members during the height of the pandemic, Luna was recently named a Tenet Hall of Fame Honoree, the nationwide company’s highest honor. More in this issue.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley announced the appointment of Dr. Michael B. Hocker as the new dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine.
Dr. Hocker, who starts his new role on June 28, holds the J. Harold Harrison M.D. Distinguished Chair in Emergency Medicine and currently serves as the senior associate dean and designated institutional official (DIO) for graduate medical education at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) at Augusta University. In that role, Dr. Hocker oversees 51 residency and fellowship programs. Previously, he served as the vice-chair of Operations for Emergency Medicine and assistant DIO for graduate medical education. Enjoy!
