EDINBURG — Matt Wolthoff, president of Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley, knelt down next to 8-year-old Eduardo Campirano and together they snipped one of the many ribbons cut Saturday morning to symbolize the opening of the hospital.
“It was awesome cutting the ribbon!” Eduardo said with a smile across his face.
The moment was a tender one, drawing smiles from all who witnessed it.
For Marinda Campirano, Eduardo’s mom, having a Driscoll hospital in the Valley opens doors to those who cannot travel to receive the necessary care.
“[It] gives access to care for children in our area,” Marinda said. “Instead of having to travel to other places we can have adequate care here for our children.”
Marinda explained that she previously had to travel with her son to Houston in order to get treatment for Eduardo, who was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) at an early age.
“It’s nice that they have a hospital here for them,” Marinda said, adding that her son was now in remission and doing better.
While Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley opened its doors here in May, hospital representatives and community members gathered Saturday for a ceremonial ribbon cutting marking its opening, and also took time to honor state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa.
Hinojosa has recently been awarded the “Children’s Health Care Award” from the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas. And he was present at Saturday’s event not just to receive the accolades but recognize the hospital’s opening already impacting the region.
At the event, red, yellow and blue balloons adorned the sides of a tent showing off Driscoll’s colors as attendees gathered. Cupcakes, coins, Lego-shaped toys all with the Driscoll logo were handed to guests as memorabilia of the momentous occasion.
Attendees even penned letters of support and best wishes that would later be tucked away in a time capsule that will be opened in 2049.
Matt Wolthoff, the hospital president, feels the attendance at Saturday’s event only emphasized the need for a hospital like Driscoll in the Valley.
“The feedback from our community has been overwhelmingly positive,” Wolthoff said. “The first three months have been more than successful; we’ve exceeded the volumes that we even projected.
“We’ve been a lot busier than what we thought over the first three months so it validates to us why we do what we do.”
Wolthoff explained that the goal of the hospital is to address the need for care in the Valley, a need that was evident from day one of the facility’s opening.
“We’ve seen hundreds of patients in the hospital, we’ve done hundreds of surgeries, we’ve seen over a thousand patients through our emergency department,” Wolthoff said, adding that they are anticipating an even busier next few months due to school classes resuming.
The health system hopes to continue to improve care for Valley children through its hospital, health plan and clinics across the region.
Driscoll is the Valley’s first freestanding, designated children’s hospital. Officials first broke ground on the hospital Nov. 16, 2021, and opened its doors to the public nearly three years later on May 1.
The $105 million facility brought state-of-the-art equipment, which fills the eighth-floor building with digital whiteboards and signs, a language line translation machine, medical booms that allow patients more movement, a CT scan machine that has a 560-slice count, a pneumatic tube system that runs underneath McColl Road, and other high tech equipment.
Hinojosa has already gone on record praising the facility and its staff for increasing healthcare accessibility in the area, but he also found himself the point of praise.
“I’m very honored to be given the Children’s Hero Award, but the reality is that it’s all teamwork in focusing on the issues that many of our children have,” Hinojosa said, noting that the Legislature is also focusing on addressing mental health care for children.
The goal is to provide early intervention and prevention through the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium in which they’ve allocated approximately half a billion dollars.
“For us children are very special; they are a gift from God so they require a hospital and healthcare providers that are devoted only to children, and this is what’s happening today,” Hinojosa said.
In April, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced it was awarding the STAR and CHIP subsidized care contracts to Aetna, a for-profit organization.
If awarded the contracts, Aetna would then replace the Driscoll Health Plan, a nonprofit organization. The change has drawn concern from hospital officials and legislators who fear a negative impact on low-income residents in the region as well as jeopardize nearly 500 Driscoll jobs.
Hinojosa along with 19 fellow South Texas legislators — state Sens. Judith Zaffirini, Roland Gutierrez and Morgan La Mantia, as well as state Reps. Todd Hunter, Abel Herrero, Genie W. Morrison, Ryan Guillen, Oscar Longoria, Sergio Munoz Jr., Janie Lopez, Erin Gamez, Armando “Mando” Martinez, Terry Canales, R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, Richard Pena Raymond, J.M. Lozano, Eddie Morales and Tracy King — wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott asking him to advocate for the Driscoll Health Plan in hopes of stopping the state from finalizing the contracts.
The Driscoll Health Plan has served 24 counties across South Texas including Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr for about 26 years.
Throughout that time it has provided coverage for about 89,000 STAR and CHIP recipients in the Nueces service area and about 336,000 recipients in the Hidalgo service area.
Currently, DHP insures 180,000 children and expecting mothers, which makes up 54% of recipients.
If the contracts are awarded to Aetna it would have an impact on not only South Texas but other areas across the state, affecting approximately 1.8 million people statewide who would be forced to change health plans and providers as a result.
But although the state plans to move forward with awarding the contracts to Aetna, local efforts remain focused on keeping DHP.
“My take is that it will be moved and postponed until we meet in January so that the Legislature can address and make proper changes to make sure that our community children’s hospitals and community health plans are included,” Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa also expressed confidence that DHP will continue serving South Texas.
“We are working together statewide from the different regions to make sure that our children’s hospitals are not left out of the MCO (managed care organization) program for the healthcare plans,” he added.
Wolthoff, meanwhile, hailed Driscoll’s work in the Valley as pivotal for a region that has historically lacked access to health care.
“Today we are celebrating a new standard of care in the Rio Grande Valley,” Wolthoff said.
To see more, view staff photographer Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: Officials hold ceremonial ribbon cutting for Driscoll Children’s Hospital
