ut-rio grande valley school of medicine

EDINBURG, Texas - Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez and Hidalgo County Commissioner Ellie Torres on Monday hosted a roundtable about COVID-19 with healthcare and hospital leaders from across the county.

Included on the panel was Dr. John Krouse, dean of the UT-Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. Check out the Rio Grande Guardian website to read Dr. Krouse’s remarks in full.

“As you know, on Sunday we reported over 400 cases that tested positive for this virus and we’ve never seen these numbers before. The numbers continue to escalate, it seems like every day,” Judge Cortez said, kicking off the event.

“Unfortunately, I have had some friends and acquaintances that have received this virus and are very seriously ill. They have told me they would not wish this on their worst enemy. It has been a very, very, painful process.”

Cortez pointed out that when stay-at-home orders were put in place at the start of the pandemic, one of the goals was to ensure local hospitals were not overwhelmed with patients. “Today, we find ourselves close to reaching capacity,” he said. 

Cortez said he wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s healthcare director and emergency management coordinator ast Friday seeking help for local hospitals. “To my happy surprise they responded very quickly. At least two hospital groups will receive support,” Cortez said.

Cortez added: “We are in this thing together. We are going to solve this by working together.”

This podcast includes the comments of Judge Cortez, Dean Krouse and all the hospital leaders present at the roundtable discussion. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

EDINBURG, Texas - The dean of the UT-Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine says he is “guardedly optimistic” that  the coronavirus will not hurt the Rio Grande Valley as much as it has other parts of the nation.

Dr. John H. Krouse was asked if the Valley would be spared the worst during a virtual town hall meeting last night. During the hour-long Q&A, Krouse was also asked when the pandemic would be at its most severe. 

McAllen Mayor Jim Darling phoned in towards the end of the webinar to say it was the best of its kind he had listened to. The event was hosted by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.

The question on whether the Valley would be spared the worst of the coronavirus’ wrath came from a listener named Mark.

“I was originally based in New York and I came to the Valley to hunker down away from the pandemic with my family down here,” Mark said. 

“I noticed that we enforced stay-at-home orders, I feel, earlier than we got our first case. My question is, is there any data to suggest that our outbreak here in the Valley will be lower or slower than LA or New York or bigger cities?”

Krouse responded.

“I would say yes and I think our local communities, counties and cities, did very early on adopt much more of a strict stance regarding staying at home, sheltering in place. I think we are beginning… you know, we will see maybe in another week, the growth that we have been seeing,” Krouse said.

“But, at that point, we will have been at least 14 days or more in most of our shelter-in-place orders across the Valley. I would expect us to level off at that point.”

Krouse continued: “I think our local leadership has done a tremendous job in acting promptly and acting in an aggressive way. So, I am very optimistic and the models that we are seeing suggests that we may do well given the severity of the problems we are seeing in other places. I am very guardedly optimistic.”

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - UT-Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine is looking to test 100 individuals a day for COVID-19.

Working with UT Health RGV, the Office of Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, Hidalgo and Cameron county leaders, and the City of Brownsville, UTRGV SOM has established two drive-thru testing sites, one in Brownsville and one in Edinburg.

Dr. John Krouse, dean of the UTGV SOM, said the Valley should expect a spike in positive cases of COVID-19 in the coming weeks, in part because of an increase in testing.

“The UTRGV School of Medicine is at the forefront of providing our community with healthcare resources, including COVID-19 testing,” he said. “We are proud of our healthcare professionals for stepping up, and we thank Congressman Vicente Gonzalez for being instrumental in making sure we obtained the testing kits necessary to serve our community,” Krouse said.

Krouse said the drive-thru sites will be open to employees, students and the public, and on-site evaluations will be available by appointment only for those 18 years of age or older who qualify after mandatory telephone screening.

To make an appointment, call ahead to the UT Health RGV Patient Communications Center at 1-833 – UTRGVMD (1-833-887-4863) to be screened. 

Telephone screening will be mandatory.

 Krouse added that protocols have been put in place to avoid testing-site congestion; to make sure that test kits will be used for those with severe symptoms; and to ensure that social distancing and other safety protocols are maintained.

He said healthcare professionals will be present to ensure that everyone follows the drive-thru testing protocols, and to help avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Individuals without insurance can get screened for COVID-19 at no cost. Results of the tests will be confirmed within days for those tested, and prescriptions for testing will be provided by UTRGV physicians at the point of care.

Individuals should arrive at the UT Health RGV drive-thru testing site with their identification.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

HARLINGEN, RGV – The president of UT-Rio Grande Valley has praised Harlingen leaders for having the foresight over many years to bring medical education to their city.

Dr. Guy Bailey sung the praises of Harlingen in an interview with the Rio Grande Guardianwhile hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the eagerly-awaited UTRGV School of Medicine Institute for Neuroscience.

“This work predates my being here, or this university being here. It goes back to the vision of the leadership of Harlingen, the South Texas Medical Foundation here, the city, the EDC all working together,” Bailey said. “This is what happens when things work in harmony.”

Bailey said the Institute for Neuroscience is a “huge” project for UTRGV School of Medicine.

“The research and the clinic work that is done here will be very important for the health of the Valley. Everything from concussion to post-traumatic syndrome, everything that affects neurology will be treated here and researched here, so we are very excited,” Bailey told the Rio Grande Guardian.

“I am also excited because this is the fruition of a great partnership with the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation. Without that foundation this would not exist. This is truly what happens when you have a partnership between the medical foundation, the legacy foundation and the university. When you are a university president and you think about how things ought to work, this is it. This is a model for how things should work.”

Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation announced in 2017 that it would donate $15 million to the Institute for Neuroscience project. Going back a lot further, the City of Harlingen purchased 35 acres of land for a medical school two decades ago, later setting up the South Texas Medical Foundation to oversee their efforts.

Editor's Note: The above podcast consists raw audio from the groundbreaking ceremony.

Editor's Note: Click here to read the full story in the Rio Grande Guardian.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

EDINBURG, RGV - In our latest podcast on developments at UT-Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine, we meet up with Dr. Linda Nelson, senior director for clinical operations at the medical school. 

The School of Medicine now has 20 clinics across the Valley. In the interview, Dr. Nelson explains why the medical school’s community outreach work is so important.

Dr. Nelson is particularly pleased with the services being provided to colonia residents via a mobile clinic.

The interview took place during the opening of a new multi-specialty clinic in south Edinburg.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.