From the Editor | September 2017
Dear Readers,
Bell County has become a destination for medical education and care. This month’s medical issue is packed with information about the local hospitals that serve our community.
Temple is a city with a small-town feel, but it is also a hub for some of the most innovative technologies in medicine. Hospitals and clinics throughout Bell County, including Seton Medical Center Harker Heights and Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, offers quality care for patients close to home.
A year after opening its new facility, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood continues to offer state-of-the art medical care to active military, their families, and retirees, Page 60; and the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center in Temple is undergoing major changes to better serve military veterans. Critical to the care of the veterans is the volunteers who help to make a veteran’s stay a little more comfortable, Page 62.
Scott & White Medical Center — Temple continues to grow. Last year it broke ground for a new surgical building that will add 10 or more operating rooms. It is scheduled to open in 2018. The building will offer private areas for preoperative and post operative patients, Page 12.
To help meet the needs of a growing pediatric patient population McLane Children’s Medical Center — Temple plans major expansion. They also added a second ambulance to their transport vehicles, Page 14.
Kelli Avant, pediatric transport nurse for McLane Children’s Hospital, understands the needs of children in crisis. Whether she and her team are transporting a patient in a mobile ICU ambulance or the hospital emergency helicopter, she gives us a sense of what it means to be a pediatric transport nurse, Page 16.
Seton Medical Center Harker Heights recently celebrated six years of serving the community. This year they welcomed Zach Dietze as the new chief executive officer. Seton also entered into a new partnership with Ardent Health Care that merged with its former partner, LHP Hospital Group, Page 31.
Kari Shulz, Seton’s director of the emergency department is a career trauma nurse. She is grace under pressure as she keeps patients and staff calm, Page 32.
Tami Annable, director of the Temple Health and Bioscience District took the long road to her career in science. She now runs a cutting edge medical research laboratory in Temple, Page 48. Within the building is state-of-the-art medical research equipment including the SiMMo3D, a company that produces human organ replicas from a 3D printer for surgical medical students, Page 46.
Have you noticed a difference in the ways your doctor communicates with you? Doctors seem to be more interested in their patients, listening to their needs and coming up with a joint plan of care with input from both sides. Today young doctors are taught patient experience in school. For doctors who have been practicing for 10 years or more, Robin Bodkin, director of marketing, patient experience and community relations for Metroplex Health System, along with Dr. Bindu Raju, a hospitalist at Metroplex Hospital, have teamed up to provide Physician Communications Skills Labs for doctors 10 years or more out of medical school to ensure a better patient experience, Page 56.
Metroplex Health System CEO Carlyle Walton said 2017 has been a year of implementation of changes at Metroplex Hospital. Metroplex has had an increase in patient traffic throughout the hospital. This year it was the recipient of numerous awards and certifications, Page 55.
If you are new to our community, welcome. If you have lived here awhile, or your entire life, see what new offerings your medical community has for you.
Catherine Hosman
Tex Appeal Editor
editor@texappealmag.com | 254-774-5234