Neurologist Dr. Zuka Khabbazeh talks about the importance of raising awareness of the vast array of services available for patients in the Rio Grande Valley. Dealing with a multitude of patients on a daily basis, Dr. Khabbazeh can especially recall how one patient’s life passed him by because he was afraid.

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the young age of 37, said patient shortly thereafter began showing signs of dementia, and possibly required surgery to preserve his life. He refused.
Along with his regular visits to Dr. Khabbazeh’s office, he sought out the assistance of witch doctors and healers with little or no effect. Despite her recommendations, he avoided surgery for years and let his condition deteriorate.
Now in his early fifties, he has full-blown dementia, and is well past the benefits of any surgical procedure, Dr. Khabbazeh says.
“He would not have the surgery because he was afraid of the potential side effects of the procedure. With time, his condition progressed so much that he developed more tremors, dyskinesias, impaired mobility, dementia, and depression,” Dr. Khabbazeh said. “So he missed the window of opportunity to receive Deep Brain Stimulation, a therapy that has proved to increase motor function in Parkinson’s patients.
Fear among patients in the Valley is a real concern, and for some like this patient, fear has had devastating effects on their well-being, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Not more than 10 years ago, patients had to travel to San Antonio or Houston to receive the same treatment that is now readily available in the Valley. Never before has the technology in the region been equal or greater to that in larger cities. Patients just have to find the courage to utilize it, Dr. Khabbazeh says.
“I think we have everything available, as far as doing what we need to do for the patients,” she says. “If the technology and medicine are available, a lot of times it boils down to the patients agreeing to do it. Patients in the Valley tend to be a little timid about doing surgical procedures. They are very scared about doing even minor surgical procedures.”
She also utilizes Medtronic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Therapy. The treatment uses a surgically implanted medical device, similar to a cardiac pacemaker that is sometimes referred to as a “brain pacemaker,” to deliver carefully controlled electrical stimulation to precisely targeted areas within the brain, specifically those that control muscle and motor functions. Stimulation of these areas interrupts the brain signals that cause the motor symptoms associated with the three most common movement disorders – Parkinson’s Disease, Essential Tremor, and Dystonia.
Some procedures she recommends include a “nerve stimulator” for epilepsy patients, which in simplistic terms is comparable to a pacemaker for the heart in order to control seizures. She also utilizes Botox, typically considered a cosmetic procedure, in order to combat recurring headaches for patients.
“It’s about educating them. They are not educated well enough about the newest things that can be done for them,” Khabbazeh says. “People are timid about doing procedures for themselves. That’s one challenging aspect about patients. It takes several tries and several visits before you can convince people to do what you want to have done for them.”
“The technology is available, and the medicine is there, people just have to have the guts to do it,” she says.
Attending medical school at the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine in Lebanon, Dr. Khabbazeh arrived in the United States to complete her training at the University of Cincinnati. She then completed a year of fellowship in epilepsy at Wayne State University and then two years in neuromuscular disorders at Harper University Hospital in Detroit.
She began her practice in the Valley in the 1990s as one of only three neurologists in the region, she said.
“My first impression of the Valley was the fact that I was busy from the first minute I got here. I had more patients than I could ever have imagined having. There was a huge demand for another neurologist,” she said. “There were only two at the time, and I was the third, and there were a lot of patients. I really enjoyed it. I have been busy since then. People in the Valley are nice. They approach you. They are warm people. That’s what is nice about practicing here.”

Traditional classroom settings are a thing of the past. We are moving forward to a future with 21st century learning environments being transformed by how students learn and professionals teach.

Students are now more technologically adept than ever and a growing number of schools are incorporating laptops and tablets in the classroom. Twenty-first century school designs provide versatile classroom configurations and open spaces for a variety of learning styles, such as small group, individual, large group, hands-on and independent study.

“As traditional teaching pedagogy evolves because of changes in technology and learning modalities, so should facilities,” said ERO Architects President Eli Ochoa, PE, AIA, CBJ. “Our children need to be able to connect to resources at anytime, anywhere for ‘anyhow’ learning whether in the building, outside the school or for distance learning. They need to be in a space where they can have collaborative interaction and active learning opportunities. These are important factors for developing well-rounded citizens.”

By incorporating movable walls, movable white boards or digital boards, and modular furniture, learning environments are easily adaptable to the needs of students.
Along with flexible seating and access to a wireless network, 21st century schools embody specific design principles to help learning and creativity flow, including bursts of color, an abundance of natural light, classroom courtyards and cafes; and energy efficiency and sustainability.

“Color is known to evoke creativity and daylighting is important for optimum student performance,” explained Ochoa. “Open and airy spaces inside or outside, like courtyards, are where students can gather with their friends, study or even meet with teachers is the new 21st century norm.”

Designs that mirror a collegiate environment are another 21st century design opportunity. A college campus style and other 21st century learning environment design elements were applied to the Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy at Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. This freshman academy is the Rio Grande Valley’s newest high school and is set to open in fall 2013.

Together with Harlingen CISD stakeholders, ERO Architects developed a plan with a 21st century vision that emphasized integrating innovative strategies and designs to enhance student achievement.

“Today’s kids are digital learners. They take in the world via the filter of computing devices,” added Ochoa.
The school supports project-based learning in the five Achieve Texas Career clusters, which are education and training; health science; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); business management and administration; and liberal arts.

“A school that looks and feels like a college campus is a sure way to enhance college-readiness,” added Ochoa. “At the center of the campus is an intimate courtyard making it a perfect place for social interacting, group learning and quiet reflection.”

“The curriculum and design of the Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy ensures that our students will have special attention during this important transition in their academic careers,” said Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Steve Flores. “To put our students at the forefront, we must embrace change and innovation. The Academy is one step toward completing our district’s transformation for the benefit of student success in the 21st century.”

Learning spaces and the shape of education will continue to evolve. Those involved in the planning process can aspire design schools of the future that will accommodate ever-evolving technology and education that will shape students, faculty and the community for years to come.

So What’s the Problem?
Coats draws a comparison between the current Rio Grande Valley and the Dallas-Fort Worth “Metroplex” in its infancy.
Early on, the two cities did not operate well with each other. Tensions were legendary between leaders in Dallas and in Fort Worth before the creation of DFW Airport. In 1946, Fort Worth hired a firm to prepare an airport plan for the city. The next year, it decided to develop Midway as its major airport and renamed it Greater Fort Worth International Airport, but Dallas continued to develop Love Field.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, in 1948, the CAA National Airport Plan recommended that Greater Fort Worth International Airport be expanded into the major regional airport, but officials in Dallas continued their opposition.
The TSHA states, referencing stories from the Dallas Morning News, that the feud between the two cities became so bitter that then-Fort Worth Mayor Amon Carter refused to eat in Dallas restaurants, and when business made it necessary for him to be in Dallas, he carried a sack lunch.
“The thing that intrigues me is the parallel between Dallas and Forth Worth, when the cities stopped fighting on airport issues and got together,” Coats said.
Coats was a part of those talks in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the cities were forced to work together to offset declining passengers at what was then known as Greater Southwest in Fort Worth, amid the severe congestion at Dallas’ Love Field. The location for the future Dallas–Fort Worth Regional Airport was decided to be at the intersection of the towns of Euless, Irving, and Grapevine.
“When I first went to Dallas, they had an airport, and Fort Worth had an airport, and they were both little regional airports,” he said. “Today, because they finally got together, DFW is the fourth busiest airport in the world, not just in Texas or the U.S., but in the world. It provides over $17 billion in economic benefit to the north Texas region. We don’t talk about just Dallas anymore or just Fort Worth anymore; we talk about the Metroplex.”
Leaders here talk about the advent of a future “Borderplex” if communities can put aside their differences. Similar situations like those that took place early on in the Metroplex have arisen in the Valley in the development of key facilities and programs. Former State Representative Veronica Gonzales recalls one example during her time in the legislature when the region was awarded funds through the now defunct Health Services District, which required Cameron and Hidalgo Counties to work together to come up with a plan to provide care to the indigent population.
When talks among representatives in the two counties failed, the money originally meant for the Rio Grande Valley was redistributed to San Antonio, Gonzales said at a recent governmental affairs meeting in McAllen.
“The reason I think it’s so important to work together is I do remember we were in the legislature, and we had money with a health services district that was allocated, which required Cameron and Hidalgo Counties to work together to come up with a plan, and they could not get it together to come up with a plan,” Gonzales said. “There was too much of a disagreement, and as a result, the money got lost, and it went to San Antonio. So this idea, when it was first being talked about, we were saying everyone has to be onboard and play nice, because if they don’t, the state would then say ‘forget it, I’m not supporting something your own people can’t agree on.’”
“Just like Dallas-Forth Worth has the Metroplex, we can become a Borderplex,” Gonzales said. “We have already started to see that. I’m very proud of the fact that all of our cities have been super supportive. They have all been talking to each other, and that’s how you get things done.”
A Future University and a Turning Point for Regionalism in the Valley?
In separate interviews, Coats and Gonzales both agree that a likely new university in the Valley may be a turning point for regionalism in the Valley.
A “perfect storm” of various elements coming together, including the various communities in the Valley working in tandem, have pushed for the establishment of the university to this point, passing the state Senate and House, but those locales need to stay united once the big decisions shift away from Austin and come home, according to Gonzales.
Making her comments as the keynote speaker at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s monthly governmental affairs meeting, Gonzales gave an update on the proposed university in the Texas legislature, and offered a serious assessment of where it goes from here.
“I hope that when decisions are being made, those who want to be involved will be allowed to give their input, and that we can actually have some community forums and get the input of the community, because this is impacting our local communities,” she said. “They (communities) should have a say and an opinion, which should be voiced and considered to determine where we go.”
Specifically, Gonzales is referring to upcoming decisions that will determine the location of future administration offices, the location of the main campus, the name of the future campus, or a possible taxing district that would split among the counties to fund the proposed medical school. The Board of Regents will have the ultimate say about these decisions, but it will seek input from all communities in the Valley.
The regents have established a Blue Ribbon Panel which will then decide where the best resources locally to accommodate the medical school are located. Among those decisions that will be determined possibly with the input of communities in the Valley, the regents will select one president for the new university, as well as an executive vice president on each campus.
The idea is that we are going to be regional, and not where everything will be located in one part of the Valley,” Gonzales said. “When the UT System came up with this idea, they said ‘this has to be something that is regional, and not only something that will reach across Texas, but something that will reach down into the Americas. With all the online learning, we have the ability to attract students internationally to come to this university.’”
“It’s almost like a ‘carpe diem,’ seize the moment deal,” Coats says about the opportunity to be created with the new university and medical school.
”I think as our leadership begins to work through it – and you have to remember I don’t have a dog in the fight anymore; I’m a Dallas-ite who just happens to come from the Valley and love the Valley – I think that if you can get the leadership of the communities in the Valley talking on a regional basis, then the potential is huge,” Coats said.
Coats touts extensive aviation experience from serving as President of Muse Air Corporation until its acquisition by Southwest Airlines Company, as well as having held senior management positions with Continental Airlines, Inc., Southern Cross Airlines Holdings in Australia, Southwest Airlines Company, Braniff Airways, Inc., and Texas International Airlines, Inc.
He has also practiced law with Jenkens & Gilchrist Law Firm in Dallas, and served as a member of the Texas legislature.
His private sector experience includes being President and CEO of Schlotzsky’s restaurants and S.I. Restructuring, Inc. from June 2004 until March 2006, where he was hired to restructure the company.
During his career, Coats has also been President and Chief Executive Officer of various companies including Sammons Travel Group and Adventure Tours USA, a package tour operator; PROS Revenue Management, Inc., which is a leading provider of airline revenue management software systems; and Trinity Texas Corporation, a private holding company involved in real estate development, quick lubrication centers, oil and gas.
“I’m looking at it from a CEO’s perspective, because I have been CEO of two airlines, Schlotzky’s, and several other companies,” Coats said. “I’m looking at it from the point of view saying ‘I don’t know where the city limit sign is; I want to know if there is a critical mass there that is going to enable me to invest capital and get a return on that capital for my shareholders.’”
“To the extent that any local can convince me that there is that critical mass, and that income base, that’s what is important. I could care less about a city limit sign,” Coats said.
Communities Say They Are Uniting
Edinburg mayor Richard Garcia, during testimony before the Senate Higher Education Committee in March, said there has been united support from the Valley’s elected leadership for all aspects of the legislation to establish a new university.

The Edinburg leader noted that his hometown, along with the rest of the Valley’s cities, have successfully set aside economic and political rivalries for the greater good of the more than 1.3 million residents in deep South Texas. Garcia is also a former chair of the Texas Border Coalition, a group of mayors and businesspersons from key border cities including the Valley, Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso, who have come together on issues affecting the border area.

“We are prepared as a region to work together in support of a medical school for South Texas. We are working hard and looking forward to acquiring a medical school that will help the Rio Grande Valley continue to grow while allowing us to meet the needs of every resident,” Garcia said.

Sam Coats believes the concept of one regional MSA is the future of the region.
“I think it’s the future. I think by not doing that, it’s a limitation. It’s almost like we have a potential asset that we are afraid to capitalize on because we are too tribal,” he said. “That needs to go away. When it comes to football or basketball or tennis, that’s fine, but when it comes to the Valley, it should be one entity. It’s a dynamic entity. We should promote it on a regional basis, because everybody has something to gain from that.”

Over the last 20 years, Dr. Cardenas said he has witnessed the start of a historical shift in healthcare for the Rio Grande Valley.
The healthcare arena in the region has become a place where hospitals have developed an understanding of the community it serves, Cardenas says. Hospitals have become malleable, moving in a direction to help communities in various ways.
But it hasn’t always been this way. For decades, access to healthcare was sorely needed in the region.
Cardenas can recall the heartbreak growing up when he would see patients traveling to San Antonio for medical care. Some of those patients would never come back. Cardenas’ great-grandfather had Bright’s Disease and died in a San Antonio hospital. His grandmother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease at MD Anderson in Houston, and his younger brother who passed away two years ago this month was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at UTMB in Galveston.
“Do you see a pattern here?” Cardenas asks. “This is just within my own family. My story is repeated over and over again throughout our community.”
Coming from a pioneer family, Cardenas can trace his lineage in the Valley back more than 250 years on his father’s side, and nearly 200 years on his mother’s side. His dad’s family, the Cardenas-Garcia clan, settled in the area in 1740, and the Cardenas-Cavazos family came in 1789. His mother’s side includes the well-known Vela family, which includes a current U.S. congressman, among many others, who settled in the region around 1825.
“So, we have been here a long time, and that has shaped how I think in the sense that growing up, we didn’t have a lot of subspecialists in our community,” Cardenas said. “We had primary care, we had maybe a couple of general surgeons, but a lot of people left the area to get their healthcare.”
“Many patients would travel to San Antonio, and they often died there,” he said.
The Valley is severely underserved from a medical standpoint. The national average is 240 doctors for every 100,000 patients. In Texas, the rate is decreased to 165 for 100,000 patients, but in the Valley there are 124 doctors for 100,000 patients. In Starr County, there are 27 doctors for every 100,000 patients.
“Historically, this area has been underserved for generations,” Cardenas said. “If it wasn’t for the infrastructure that our local leaders and others built in the area to make it possible for those of us in the community to go off but come back and give back to our community, some of the transitions that we are now absorbing, in terms of being able to attract, recruit, and retain healthcare talent into our community might not have happened.”
“It happened because those forward-looking visionaries and leaders saw the path to attract and make folks come here. I come from that perspective.”

Communities at Risk
Fourteen of 28 counties in South Texas have no hospitals, which translates to residents traveling longer distances in order to receive care. This fact is especially critical in emergency situations, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The designated South Texas region, which spans from Brownsville in the south to Val Verde County in the north, has been met with an increasing number of health care workers in South Texas, “which is still not enough to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population,” according to TDSHS.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has designated 16 of the region’s 28 counties as having a shortage of primary health care providers – primary care doctors, dentists, and mental health professionals.
Primary care doctors are in short supply in more than half of South Texas’ counties, according to TDSHS. Primary care practitioners include doctors of medicine (M.D.) and doctors of osteopathy (D.O.) who provide direct care in general or family practice, general internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.
Three South Texas counties – Kenedy, McMullen, and Real counties – had no practicing direct care physicians as of August 2007.21 Families seeking medical care must travel to other counties, often many miles away.
“There are challenges that we have that are not just unique to us, because some of those are held in common with other communities. I like to call them ‘communities at risk,’” Cardenas said. “Those communities are those that are primarily poor, and in many cases, they are minority communities. These communities exist in every area of our country – in the large urban centers, the rural parts of the state, and the rural parts of America. The challenges are similar, because we tend to see similarities in those communities that are poor.
“There are some who have served or worked in similar areas, but then moved to our area, then bringing the skill sets that allow them to work here,” Cardenas said.
The South Texas region is home to 24 for-profit hospitals, 9 nonprofit hospitals, and 7 public hospitals. Of the 40 hospitals, 7 are in Corpus Christi; Laredo, Brownsville, McAllen, and Harlingen each have four, and Edinburg has three. The remaining 14 are in smaller communities, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The region’s largest hospital is CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi with 1,049 beds. McAllen and Harlingen had the next largest hospitals in the South Texas region. In 2007, the region’s hospitals had a total 6,721 staffed beds, according to TDSHS.
Doctors Hospital at Renaissance opened its doors in 1997 as an ambulatory surgical center in Edinburg. The hospital is now the largest physician-owned hospital in the country, Cardenas said.
“Doctors Hospital at Renaissance grew out of an idea that we could deliver high-quality, cost-effective patient care, and who better than physicians to do it?” Cardenas said. “I have been the chairman of the organization from the time it was a surgical center, and then it transitioned to an acute care facility, and now it has transitioned into a large medical center. I think that being a physician has made it possible to think about how care is delivered from the bedside to the boardroom.”
Currently, DHR is a 506-bed facility with over 50 specialties and subspecialties. Dr. Cardenas is also a practicing gastroenterologist.
“We here at the hospital don’t see ourselves as just healthcare delivery. Rather, we see ourselves as an economic driver, an engine for development in our community,” Cardenas said. “It goes beyond just being healthcare service or being part of the healthcare sector. It goes way beyond that, because the needs of our community are great, and it takes all of us, regardless of our profession or perspective or view, depending on what we do in our community, to come together and pull together as a team to drive this entire area forward.”

As the founder and owner of Bicycle World stores across the Rio Grande Valley, Roberts can recall opening his first store in Harlingen 35 years ago. By then, the former Perkins Bike Shop on South Sunshine Strip had been in business for 40 years, and was soon followed by a second store in McAllen and Brownsville.

“I thought that even though we were a little shop, one day I was going to be Bicycle World. That’s where we are now,” Roberts says of his initial thoughts upon opening in 1977. “I have seen many shops in my day go out of business that I used to look at in awe. There’s more to it than just starting a shop. There is so many changes that happen very quickly, and you have to be able to change and adapt.”

Nearly four decades later, in gauging the success of each store, Roberts acknowledges that McAllen has a much larger customer base who tend to splurge compared with Harlingen customers who are “a bit more conservative” when it comes to spending. Good management, Roberts says, is what makes a business succeed, along with a good vision and knowledge of its customer base, regardless of where the business is located.

“We went through a bad phase, but we got our city back. We have sensible thinking people now,” said Roberts, who is also asking that the city be more open minded when it comes to supporting new projects and events. He and his wife Kelly are the organizers of Harlingen’s annual Jalapeno 100 Bike Ride, now in its 23rd year. “But things are looking better,” he said.

“This was the beginning of my entrepreneur dream in America,” said Roberts. “We worked hard at it, and we have three stores now. It wasn’t easy, but quite frankly we have come a long way in these 35 years. We feel satisfied that we have accomplished way more than what we originally founded it.”
Harlingen is no stranger to adversity, but historically the savvy marketing prowess of its leadership, and loyalty from its business community, have apparently guided the city through crises in the past.
Just a year after the city’s ‘Golden Anniversary’ in 1960, the announcement of the closing of the former Harlingen Air Force Base predicted doom and catastrophe for the economy of the city. In his 1961 budget to Congress, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that the Department of Defense would close 73 military installations, including Harlingen.
By 1962, hundreds of homes emptied as military families began to leave the city. At its peak, the base held 9,000 trainees among its 200 housing units. In the community, a group of citizens collaborated to launch a marketing campaign they named “Go Harlingen” to attract retirees from the Midwest, and possibly soften the economic hit from the base’s closing.
Using $100,000 raised by the local business community to promote the campaign, more than 1,400 houses were sold over five years, according to city records. In addition, the vacant airbase property was revived by its new tenant, Marine Military Academy. The base’s adjacent runways became Valley International Airport thanks to a $1.25 million bond issue approved by voters. Hurricanes, floods, freezes, the closing of cotton gins, and the end of rail passenger service did not deter the city’s morale, and neither have the challenges of the 21st century despite the city’s standing among other communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
Harlingen currently trails behind cities like Edinburg and McAllen, who as of early 2013 are both tied for the lowest unemployment rate (7.6 percent) in the Rio Grande Valley. January figures by the Texas Workforce Commission represent the latest data, which is reported on a bimonthly basis by TWC. Harlingen came in at 9 percent unemployment in January, the middle of the pack among Valley cities.
By comparison, Mission (8.8 percent), Pharr (9.9 percent), Brownsville (11.1 percent), and Weslaco (11.5 percent) had higher unemployment rates in January than Edinburg and McAllen, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
In the dawn of the city’s centennial celebration in 2010, the census data delivered a stunning blow for Harlingen repositioning the once leading economy of the entire Rio Grande Valley from third place to sixth place in population amongst valley communities.
On November 2011, after a lengthy and stressful process, Bass Pro Shops finally opened its doors in Harlingen, preceded by Harlingen Crossings, a new retail complex west of town. The year 2012 brought an increase in sales tax collections that have continued through the first months of 2013. Retail business owners say they are starting to feel a positive change impacting the Capital City of the Rio Grande Valley.
Harlingen garnered more than $1.6 million in local sales taxes in January, up nearly 4 percent over the same time in 2012, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Connie Salas and Juan Salas, lifelong residents of the city and community volunteers with the Harlingen Chamber for the last 13 years, say there is room for improvement.
“On a scale of one to 10, we are not yet there, but we are getting there thanks to the people running the city,” Juan Salas said. “In the last five years we have seen some growth, and I know we are behind but we are still the lowest taxpayers in the Valley. As residents in the city, we feel we are finally getting there.”
“The city needs to keep on making it easy for business to get here and build more. Some of the problems that we had was figuring out how to improve that, but we see a lot of things coming to better the city.”
In 1975 Southwest Airlines and Lamar Muse selected Harlingen as their first expansion airport, and have since provided their services without interruption. In 2012 Southwest Airlines added nonstop flights to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. Valley International Airport (VIA) is the only major airport in the Valley that does not offer international passenger flight. In the meantime, DHL does operate a Boeing 767-200 wide body cargo plane between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Harlingen, Texas, continuing to Monterrey, Mexico. In addition, Sun Country Airlines, which started servicing Harlingen and the Valley in 1998, has expanded their 2013 season to start from October through May increasing their flights by 39% from last year. VIA is also home to casino charter flights to Laughlin, Wendover, and Tunica operated by Sun Country Airlines, Allegiant Airlines, and Republic Airlines. No subsidy money from the City of Harlingen or its Economic Development is used to attract and retain these airlines in Harlingen. VIA has long embraced the concept of regionalism, for its name suggests it is the Valley’s airport.

Each year, thousands of travelers arrive in Harlingen to visit the entire region for business and pleasure.
When it comes to major events, Harlingen struggles, and has endured the loss of the CAF Air Show, Rio Fest and the Downtown Jubilee. But Harlingen does have a festival that is known across the world: the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. Local and international birders meet in Harlingen and travel all over South Texas to watch over 500 species of birds found in this diverse sub-tropical habitat that is the Rio Grande Valley.

RGVision paid a visit to Raudel Garza, Harlingen’s Economic Development Director, to ask about balancing the job of bringing retail businesses, restaurants and industry to Harlingen. Garza talked about two new power plants coming to Harlingen and Brownsville this year which will employ thousands of people in addition to spin-off jobs that will come as a result.

“Harlingen has a lot of strengths, and right now we are leveraging our location in the Valley, which is our biggest one to help draw more people and shoppers to Harlingen,” said Harlingen EDC chairman Rick Ledemsa. “There are some challenges to the city in the way it’s structured. There are a lot of obstructions in getting from one side of the city to the others. That is a natural obstruction that we somehow have to overcome. “
Call centers are an important source of jobs in the Rio Grande Valley. Harlingen is home to United Healthcare, Dish Network, Time Warner and ACT. Of the 9,600 jobs related to call centers, 1/3 are found in Harlingen.

In addition, major manufacturers with established operations in Harlingen such as Tyco, Cardone Industries, Aloe Labs, and Encanto Snacks survived the recession and continue to grow. Manufacturers have expressed the intention to continue investing in Harlingen.

The United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing to provide access to space for the U.S. government added 80 jobs in the last year, according to Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell. Cardone now has more than 250 employees, and Tyco’s expansion in the city added more than 69 jobs over the last year, Boswell said.

“We are doing a lot of different things, we are working to be a full partner of the new university and medical school, we are adding manufacturing jobs on one side of town in our industrial sector,” said Harlingen mayor Chris Boswell. “All of these manufacturing sector jobs have grown and added jobs in the last year.”

The same circumstance seems to be happening in Harlingen regardless of the loss in population reported by the 2010 census. Just like in the past, adversity is generating the momentum necessary to drive Harlingen in a new direction where it will find a grand vision and its place in the world.

You don’t have to put up with chronic pain any longer. If you count yourself among the many thousands of people who are living with chronic pain, the staff at the Center for Pain Management in Edinburg is here to improve your life, and the change is unbelievable.

CFPM is not only the oldest pain management practice in the Valley, it is the largest and most innovative. CFPM features cutting-edge treatment capabilities and a world-class team of doctors and staff.

Receiving his training at Boston University Medical, Case Western University, and Harvard Medical, Dr. Chowdhury has 30 years of experience in anesthesia and 25 years of experience in the sub-specialty of comprehensive and interventional pain management. His affiliations include being Board Certified by the American Academy of Pain Management and the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians.

“Our slogan is ‘Live Well Now!’ This means you don’t have to put up with the pain,” said Dr. Chowdhury. “Thousands of people have pain, and they don’t think that they can do anything about it. They learn to live with it, and over a period of time, they just expect to have it. But when we come in and get rid of that pain, the change can be remarkable.”

CFPM specializes in treating patients suffering from persistent pain after surgery, low back pain, persistent headaches, shingles, cancer, diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, spasticity due to strokes, brain injury, as well as injury from motor vehicle accidents and work related injuries.

Some of the specialized services include treatment of spine fracture with kyphoplasty and balloon augmentation, which involves reestablishing some of the physical integrity of a fractured vertebrae by injecting a bone cement into the vertebral body.

The experts at CFPM also specialize in the implantation of spinal column stimulators. This device is used to exert pulsed electrical signals to the spinal cord to control chronic pain. “When it’s neuropathic pain, the patient cannot sleep, and their quality of life suffers when they can’t sit down or stand for a long time because of the pain shooting to the back or the leg. Spinal column stimulation is a way to relieve pain from the back, neck, and upper and lower extremities for patients who have gone through everything, including surgery, but were not helped,” Dr. Chowdhury explained. “For those patients, we recommend a trial SCS to find out if they are ideal for the surgical implantation of the SCS device.

Dr. Chowdhury is also one of the few who perform MILD Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression for the treatment of spinal stenosis. This outpatient procedure is often a step that allows the patient to avoid major back surgery.

Interventional pain management is an interesting specialty. Some doctors are unaware of the newest options available to alleviate pain. They may prescribe drugs that affect the entire body up to a level where the patients have more side effects from the medication than actual pain relief. While Dr. Chowdhury may also use drugs to treat pain, normally he treats pain at the point where it is being generated. Interventional pain management techniques may reduce the need for medication by as much as 99% and still provide the needed relief.

According to a consensus report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in June 2011, more than 100 million adults in the United States are affected by chronic pain, or to put it in perspective – more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. About one-third of those people who report pain indicate that it is “disabling,” which is defined as both severe and having a high impact on functions of daily life.

Gauging the economic impact, it is estimated that pain costs the nation up to $635 billion annually. According to IOM, in 2008 alone, federal and state governments spent $99 billion on pain-related medical expenses. In an excerpt from the Journal of American Medical Association, it states that chronic pain from arthritis, back problems, headache, and other musculoskeletal conditions costs American businesses $61.2 billion a year in lost productivity. Whichever number you use, the economic cost is enormous. But the emotional and physical cost is even higher.

Oral cancer is not a rare disease. Approximately 42,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer every year in the US. It kills one person every hour of every day, and over 100 new individuals will be diagnosed with it each day. The good news is that it can often be found early in its development, through a simple, painless, and quick screening.

The free oral cancer screenings were held at the Cancer Center at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas from 9:00 AM until 11:30 AM. There were over twenty volunteers comprised of local area dentists, hygienists and MD’s who were able to screen 97 people.

The goal of the Jack T. Clark Foundation is to bring physicians and dentists together to serve the oral health needs of cancer patients. The foundation’s vision is to strive to ease the suffering from oral conditions related to cancer and cancer therapy. The foundation aims to spread awareness and to increase the available resources on oral health for cancer patients. Since its inception, the Jack T. Clark Foundation has performed over 3,500 oral cancer screenings, distributed educational information to 250,000 people, and held 640 hours of classroom and hands-on training about oral cancer, and oral complications for dental professionals.

If you want more information or would like to learn more on how to prevent oral cancer email Dr. Joe Zacarias DDS