Fifteen months ago the Rio GrandeValley didn’t have a top-rated trauma center. Now we have two, further evidence of the steady improvement in the quality of health care that once was deemed the worst in the country.
South Texas Health Care System McAllen recently received a Comprehensive Level I rating from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The designation, verified by the AmericanCollege of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma, certifies that the facility can offer top-quality emergency care, with specialists available to address a wide range of illnesses and injuries at any hour, on any day.
This follows DHR Health in Edinburg, which achieved the rating in September 2021, and should raise public confidence that they can receive 24-hour emergency and critical care with trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists and other specialists at all times. They can receive treatment for a wide range of needs including cardiac, orthopedic, microvascular, neurosurgery and other specialties.
This adds to the increased and improved medical care options the Valley has seen in the past decade, including the creation of the only medical school south of Corpus Christi. That improvement is welcome in an area with high levels of diabetes and other chronic ailments, and where high insurance levels mean many people who can’t afford routine and preventative health care later find themselves needing emergency room care.
Not that long ago such people had many fewer options, and that could put their health at greater risk. Worse, the quality and cost of health care in the Valley drove many people to cross the border to address their medical needs.
In April 2009 New Yorker magazine published an article researched and written by a medical doctor, Dr. Atul Gawande, who determined that the quality of medical care in the Rio GrandeValley was the worst of any major region in the country. Despite the poor quality, Valley health care also was the second-most expensive, behind only Miami, Fla.
We trust that the improvements in our medical care will continue to improve. Medical professionals who work at top-quality facilities likely will learn firsthand the best and most current medical procedures, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, along with other local nursing and medical programs, are feeding those facilities with new healthcare workers equipped with the most modern information available.
Moreover, they can give people who have lived with subpar health care for much or their lives hope and confidence that better care is possible, and people are making it possible.
Of course, this achievement is most important for the people of South Texas who need the medical services these trauma centers can provide. They also benefit the region in other, more far-reaching ways; they can help convince people who evaluate an area’s quality-of-life offerings if they’re looking for a new place to live, open a business or invest.
We congratulate STHS for its Level I designation. We thank those who accomplished the achievement, and all those who are dedicated to providing Rio GrandeValley residents with the best health care possible.
