Stroke is the nation’s third leading cause of death and it affects 700,000 people in the U.S. each year. It is also one of the primary causes of serious, long-term disability. Board Certified Vascular Neurologist Dr. Victoria Parada, who is the Medical Director of Valley Baptist Medical Center’s Joint Commission Certified-Primary Stroke Center in Harlingen, is determined to ensure that less people fall victim to this debilitating ailment. And that is why she is committed to decreasing the number of stroke-related deaths in the region by raising awareness about the effectiveness of immediate diagnosis and treatment of this serious disease.

“Every minute spent without treatment means more brain cells die and efforts to speed up patients’ arrival at the hospital are absolutely crucial,” Parada said. “Seventy percent of stroke victims do not correctly recognize they are having a stroke, 30 percent delay seeking medical attention for longer than 24 hours, regardless of age, sex, social class, or educational level; and approximately 30 percent of early recurrent strokes occur before seeking attention. Nowadays we have available very effective early treatments and interventions and at Valley Baptist, we have a committed stroke team willing to make every effort to help our patients to restore functioning and prevent disability.”

The human brain is the most intricate organ in our bodies, and only recently have scientists been able to scratch the surface of discovering how this vast neural network functions. When a person suffers from a stroke, there is an interruption in the perfusion of a specific vascular territory of the brain, resulting in a rapid loss of neurologic ability. Once the damage occurs, cells begin to die in that particular region of the brain, rendering regeneration of those cells nearly impossible. Immediate treatment of stroke patients is crucial and doctors employ methods like clot-busting medications and cerebral angioplasties in order to prevent any further cell deterioration and ultimately save the patient’s life.

Understanding the risk factors for stroke is the key to prevention, and Dr. Parada is intent on educating the community about the importance of addressing these health concerns before it’s too late.

“Unfortunately stroke is an equal opportunity disease,” Parada said. “The most important risk factors are hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. Our Hispanic population is greatly affected by these conditions, favoring the early development of cardiovascular and cerebral-vascular disease. Most of our population does not have access to resources to implement adequate primary prevention, and this is what we’re up against.”

Dr. Parada has been focused on spreading her message of prevention and rapid treatment throughout the course of her career. After pursuing her medical education in her native Guatemala at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin’s School of Medicine, she decided to specialize in studying the causes of headache and stroke. While completing her residency in neurology at the University of South Alabama, she was chosen as chief resident and participated in Stroke and Headache clinical research.

She joined the team at Valley Baptist Medical Center in 2003 because of the hospital’s reputation of providing specialized life-saving stroke services. Valley Baptist-Harlingen is the largest health care provider in the city and is the first hospital in the Valley to be certified as a “Primary Stroke Center” on the national level by the accrediting organization for health care facilities, the Joint Commission. There are 25 certified stroke centers in Texas and the certification is based on a facility’s standards and their history of improving outcomes for stroke patients. In 2009, Valley Baptist Medical Center became a Texas Department of State Health Services-Designated Primary Stroke Care Facility.

Two years ago, the medical center received $170,000 to expand its stroke treatment programs, and the hope is to develop a Hispanic Stroke Center for Excellence to educate patients and the community’s doctors about stroke prevention, while compiling research on health problems in the Rio Grande Valley.

Dr. Parada says that while it’s important for physicians to work together and take a holistic approach when treating patients, what matters most is educating the community and providing them with compassion and personalized care in order to assist them in her recoveries.

“We need to be more aggressive in educating citizens on the causes of stroke, and the Hispanic Stroke Center of Excellence will prove to be an important tool in our struggles against this disease,” she said. “We want our community to have access to the highest level of care and we are committed to not only saving lives, but also improving our patients’ health, well-being and quality of life once they leave the hospital.”
Photos contributed by Valley Baptist Medical Center.

Elisa Villanueva Beard, Teach For America’s Chief Operating Officer, is entering her tenth year working for the organization with a cause that she is passionately committed to sustaining.

As a McAllen native and 1994 graduate of the first class out of Nikki Rowe High School, Villanueva Beard’s future was changed by her mentor, the husband of her high school biology teacher, Joe Disque. Disque saw her potential and became an instrumental part of her life, opening up opportunities in her educational path when he brought her a college application to Indiana’s well regarded school, De Pauw University in Greencastle, and encouraged her to fill it out. This began a transformative experience for this high school basketball player. She left Texas for the first time and arrived solo in Indiana with three pieces of luggage and a different world at her fingertips.

For the first time, Villanueva Beard was faced with what it meant to be Latina in America and became aware of the social constructs that exist in our country. She was challenged on the issues of language, heritage, and religion like never before. These were all great opportunities that unfolded before her and her peers. Her academic adjustments to college taught her to work hard and achieve high standards, and this would prove pivotal in the work she would go on to do.

Prior to her college graduation in 1998, she applied to Teach For America and was accepted as a corps member. Villanueva Beard taught in Phoenix for three years and became passionate about her students’ success and her new-found community. She watched as elementary students who were far behind would make great strides, and their families would get behind their efforts and successes. She quickly learned that when students and families were held to high expectations, they would rise to the occasion. This fueled her own interest in the very principles that uphold Teach For America.

She, too, believed that one day all children could have an equal opportunity to attain an excellent education. If more kids in the Rio Grande Valley had competitive opportunities, she thought, then more students would be in a better position to be great leaders in her home community. She wanted to come back to the Valley to help this happen.

“Our kids deserve the very best. People’s zip codes should not determine whether or not they receive a good education,” Villanueva Beard asserts.

Teach For America recruited Villanueva Beard to join their staff, and she has served as a regional executive director and senior vice president before becoming their chief operating officer. During her time as executive director, the size of the corps quadrupled, and one million dollars was raised for the first time. This garnered support for the organization and helped build the awareness that shined more light on their mission: to recruit future leaders of this country to work in low income areas to show students that despite all of the challenges of poverty, they could achieve just as much as their more affluent peers.

Corps members are compelled and inspired to be part of something meaningful that will be a life-long journey. After their two-year commitment to the program in which they go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure their students are successful, corps members step back and take stock of what this experience has meant to them. The goal is to ensure that each corps member successfully completes their teaching commitment deeply believing that educational inequity is a solvable problem. They are more resolved and committed to staying on a path to solving this problem on a long-term basis. For some, it means continuing to teach, for others it means pursuing school leadership, and for others it means pursing change outside of the school building through policy, health care, law, or other avenues their talents and passions drive them to follow involving the goal of providing educational excellence for all. Teach For America enlists talented individuals who are inspired and unwavering in their pursuit of tackling the problems in our education system that need dramatic change. Through their training, recruitment, and fostering of leadership opportunities, Villanueva Beard has been given the tools needed to impact the educational systems of the Rio Grande Valley and across the country.

In working for one organization all these years, Elisa Villanueva Beard knows this is what she was meant to do with her life and feels it has been incredible to work with likeminded individuals dedicated to ensuring all students receive an equal chance in life. The road ahead for her is steady. Having gifted individuals at the forefront of groundbreaking reform across the country has been her life’s work, and she could not be more excited about it and what the future holds as Teach For America continues to grow, with the intent to double in size by 2015. Villanueva Beard feels that when history looks back on education today, their mission will be considered one of the most brilliant pieces of educational reform of our time. And she is honored to be at the forefront of their charge.

As one of the Valley’s premier doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO), Cavazos emphasizes a practice that has assimilated with the customs and habits of the people.

“It’s what makes it different,” Cavazos says about her practice located at 2121 Griffin Parkway in Mission. Focusing primarily on preventative medicine, and emphasizing a holistic approach, allows her to reach out to a patient and their families. “A lot of times a diagnosis is actually given to you by the patient if you just ask the right questions,” she says.

An unyielding commitment to patients, serving in a dual role as a family practitioner, and Chief of Staff on Doctors Hospital at Renaissance’s Board of Managers, ensures that the right amount of care will be extended to her patients beyond a clinical setting.

Cavazos specializes in treating patients suffering from diabetes and especially cancer, of which Cavazos has endured numerous personal encounters. Her husband is a cancer survivor following a hard fight with renal cell carcinoma. She also says her sister, brothers and father have some form of the disease.

“There is a lot we don’t know about cancer, and here in the Valley I can tell you one thing, and that is cancer does not observe the guidelines that the medicine books tell us,” Cavazos says. “So even though they (patients) may be coming in for a cold, I’m still going to ask them for their entire family history. Some people are used to being treated like a drive-thru, so they may not like that, but we take our time with our patients.”

Mission born and raised, Cavazos says her familiarity with the culture of the Valley, growing up in a family of eight, makes her ideally suited to work as a doctor in the region. An understanding of religion in the area enables her to talk to patients about God when the time is necessary, especially in the event of a cancer diagnosis, she says.

“I will say ‘I know this is hard, but you have to believe in God and have trust in him, because we are going to do all that we possibly can for you,” Cavazos says. “If you have to grow up in a family of eight, then you know about sharing and having to understand other people’s feelings. You have a different perspective in life.”

It this understanding that carries on to her work on the Board at DHR. In the event that cancer patients arrive at the hospital with little or no money, or who have lost their county assistance, the Board is bound to do the right thing, and that is treat them even though they absorb the cost, she says.

“We are trying to raise the bar on delivering good healthcare in the Valley because unfortunately it’s not true with all the hospitals,” Cavazos said about her approach on the DHR Board. “It’s really important that we don’t turn that patients away. We’re still going to give them the chemo, even though we’re taking the bite and pay for it, because we do the right thing.”

Cavazos says her upbringing in the Valley has led her to believe that doing the right thing is returned to the sender ten-fold.

“I think I can really help them (patients) with their health only if they are ready to help themselves. Once they reach that realization, and they are ready to do their part, then we can control the diabetes and not have it control them. It’s the same with cancer.”

Every mother looks forward to her daughter’s wedding day. She sees her little girl grown into a lovely princess walking down the aisle in a gorgeous gown to her prince charming in a magical setting of her dreams. She looks forward to planning all the small and big details, being a source of advice and support. That was Susana Rosser’s vision when her daughter, Susi, announced her engagement in 2002. Little did Susana know it would not be a dream, but a nightmare that would follow.

“We had a terrible experience with the vendors during the entire process,” she explained. “The worst was the day before the wedding when I found out they didn’t have the linens we had chosen – and already paid for. It was a frustrating, disappointing and a stressful experience. It was not what I had dreamt or imagined at all.”

But the experience was the seed for a new dream for Susana. She knew she could do better. She knew, now, what it took to make an event fabulous, despite the circumstances. She understood what mothers and daughters needed. And so Dream Weddings by All Party Rentals was born.
“I started the business with the idea that a bride’s wedding day is one of the most important days in her life and that I never want anyone to experience what happened to my family,” Susana said. “So what sets me apart from the start is my focus on customer service. We have to deliver. We don’t have the option of changing the date, changing the venue or what the client wants. Our job is to make their dreams come true. We are making a commitment to the day of their lifelong commitment.”
How does she make it all happen?
“The basis of our business is our tremendous selection of more than 300 types and colors of linens, which can really make or break an event,” she explained. “You don’t need a lot of money to have a beautiful event. One, beautiful, high-quality table cloth can make all the difference. We can work with any budget.
“We also rent a variety of napkins, plate chargers and tables, all ranging in price to fit any bride’s needs,” she continued. “We like clients to call and make an appointment to talk about their vision. And I always tell clients to be open to new ideas and collaboration, which may provide an even better result than they had hoped for. From there, we arrange the thoughts into schemes and invite brides to come to our gallery, where they can see a few set up options. We make changes until the client is totally happy.”
Dream Weddings by All Party Rentals, which is located at 1514 N. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg, is unique to the Valley featuring five fully-decorated galleries. Dream Weddings is also truly one-of-a-kind, because it offers a collaborative business environment.
“Other vendors can come in the day of the client showing to include decorations, lighting concepts, centerpieces and whatever the bride desires to get the best possible understanding of what they will see on their perfect day,” Susana proudly says. “We have a wide variety of partnerships in place to support a bride’s total needs and we only recommend the best vendors. But I always encourage my clients to do their research, talk to other clients and understand what they are getting into.”
While being a wedding vendor seems like a fun and exciting venture, Susana says that the bottom line is that it is a business and not without its own challenges.
“In terms of events, you have to be able to think on your toes because not all factors are in your control,” she explained. “For instance, it may be an outdoor wedding and extremely windy or rainy. It’s our job to make it work, no matter what. My job is to make every event impeccable and I never settle for less.”
“When it comes to true business issues, the problem I sometimes run into is that, especially in today’s economy, clients are looking to save money wherever possible,” she continued. “I have a staff of 16 working to make dreams come true. They are each professionals and I pay them well to keep them on board because they are just as vested in the business as myself. And it costs money. Other vendors may work out of their homes and only hire family members. It’s my job to reassure my clients that they are paying for quality and commitment. Those are my standards because my name is on every event we support. It’s my reputation at stake.”

She is also always working hard to stay on top of the latest innovations in the industry to keep her at the top of her game.
“Learning is a lifelong process in any field and so I attend many expos and classes,” she said. “I believe it’s crucial to grow as a business person and you can’t do that unless you are open to new ideas and opportunities.”
Susana’s hard work and vision have paid off, because despite the economy, Dream Weddings by All Party Rentals is thriving.
“The biggest success is that people from across the Valley come to see me because they know they aren’t going to find what they find here anywhere else,” she says with pride. “I have done events as far away as the Four Seasons in Austin. The reward for me is always a glowing bride and a happy family. What more could I ask for?”

Her example is surely one to follow for fellow female entrepreneurs.
“Without a trustworthy, committed staff like my assistant Magdalena and my manager Joselito, I would not be where I am today. I always try to be professional at everything I do, but I do it with love and passion,” she concluded. “The first years of any new business venture are hard, but it you are committed, put your soul in it and love what you do, you will be successful.”
For more information about Dream Weddings by All Party Rentals call (956) 381-9080.

Infertility has many causes, many unknown, some known. One of the most common causes of infertility is endometriosis, a painful condition in which the tissue that behaves like the cells lining the uterus (endometrium) grows in other areas of the body, causing pain, irregular bleeding, and possible infertility. In the past if the severity of the endometriosis warranted it, a gynecologist could perform invasive surgery to remove the offending cells. Recovery time was slow, and often the surgery only provided short-term relief. Although surgery increases the odds of a pregnancy, it is still not a surefire thing.

Today, thanks to Rio Grande Valley Obstetrician-Gynecologist Dr. Susan Hunter, one Mid-Valley family recently welcomed a baby into their lives. The patient, a woman in her 30’s, struggled with endometriosis. Dr. Hunter performed the area’s first fallopian tube reconstruction procedure using robotic-assisted surgery. Prior to this procedure the patient had not been able to become pregnant, although she had been actively trying to for several years.

Dr. Hunter used the da Vinci® robotic surgical system at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen for the procedure. The precision with which Dr. Hunter could manipulate the robot allowed her to reconstruct the delicate end of the patient’s fallopian tube which had been closed due to prior surgery and scarring.

“The robot allows us to do more delicate and precise procedures than can be done by any other method, such as open surgery or laparoscopic surgery,” Dr. Hunter said.

The da Vinci® robot is a modern medical marvel and Dr. Hunter underwent extensive training on the equipment before she became certified to use it. With 15 years of Obstetrics and Gynecology under her belt, she was well-qualified to move from the types of surgeries she had been performing to working with the da Vinci® robot. She explained how she went about the procedure that allowed her Mid-Valley patient to finally successfully conceive and carry a baby. “With the robot, we cleared up the scarring, and re-constructed the opening in the tube to allow the egg from the ovary to pass through the tube, and then into the uterus,” she said. “This required very fine suturing and very fine technique – which the robot allowed me to do. The precision of the robot helped minimize the chances for scarring to recur, which improved her chances to get pregnant.”

Unlike traditional surgery where the surgeon stands for the entirety of the operation, the da Vinci® robot allows the surgeon to sit comfortably at a console viewing a 3D image of the surgical field. Doctors insert surgical instruments and a camera through small incisions. The physician can then precisely guide the instruments using high-definition, 3-D vision monitors which magnify the area of the surgery. The robot also has an ‘endo-wrist’ which gives the doctor more flexibility in small places and enables more precise suturing. The system seamlessly translates the surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient.

Dr. Hunter has now performed about 75 total surgeries using the robot. She has done many ‘firsts.’ She is the first gynecological surgeon south of San Antonio to perform single-incision surgery, where all the robotic instruments enter through one small incision in the belly button. She is also the only female OB/GYN robotic surgeon in the Valley, and has performed the most robotic GYN surgeries south of San Antonio. In addition to the county’s first robotic tubal reconstruction procedure, Dr. Hunter was also the first in Cameron County to perform several other gynecological procedures using the robot, including the first hysterectomies; the first removal of an ovarian cyst; the first procedure to remove benign tumors (called fibroids) which were causing pain and bleeding in a patient’s uterus; and the first “prolapse” surgery.

This should not come as any surprise to her patients though. Dr. Hunter has always been a woman on a mission. “I came late to medicine,” she confesses. “Well, later than some.” She had trained and worked as a legal secretary to personal injury attorneys. As she saw some of the cases they took on, she was absolutely fascinated with the machinations of the human body. “Some people came in who really should have been dead when you looked at the extent of the accident,” Dr. Hunter said. “That completely astounded me and I decided I wanted to learn all I could about the human body.” Like many people who attend medical school she was unsure what field she would finally specialize in. But it was when she did her Obstetrics and Gynecology rotation that she knew she had found her calling. “It was a perfect fit for me because it allowed me to see patients, develop relationships and perform surgeries.”

One reason Dr. Hunter was so excited to use the da Vinci® robot in the Valley was because it helps cut down on recovery times, and requires only small incisions — as opposed to traditional gynecological procedures, many of which require larger incisions. “With this new minimally invasive technique, there is less pain for the patient, less bleeding, and a faster recovery time for many patients,” Dr. Hunter said. “The robot is a great tool – it’s a way to be able to save women from the pain and suffering of a big incision, and from missing time away from work because of a major surgery,” she added.

The beauty of the da Vinci® robot is it can be used for other types of surgeries as well, including prostate cancer surgery in men and general surgeries. “It definitely gets muchuse here at the Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen,” concluded Dr. Hunter.

In your bathroom a wall of stainless metallic tiles behind your tub screams ultra modern- while a few copper tiles peppered throughout your kitchen backsplash speaks of old world charm.
 
Tammy Trippel is the owner of Decorating Den Interiors. She can be reached at (956) 631-3326 or by e-mail at ttrippel@rgv.rr.com.

Photos by Teodoro Morin, Jr.

Mimi Gonzalez has three children. A 19 year old girl named Angelica, a five year old boy named Jackson, and a six month old restaurant and bar named Barcelona. And all three are at very different stages in life, which keeps Gonzalez on her toes.

“When I’m with my daughter it’s all about shopping, going to the movies and finding cool places to eat. When I’m with my son it’s about being outside and enjoying all the fun of nature,” she said. “But, when I’m not with them I’m taking care of Barcelona, managing everything from employees, to booking talent, scheduling special events and promotions to guest celebrations, advertising and marketing, updating the website, and making sure the place is impeccably clean. I really help take care of it all – just like a mom.”

So how was the idea for Barcelona born?

“I was approached back in the summer of 2008 to work on renovating the old ice house in McAllen,” she explained. “I always love hearing about people that choose to remodel instead of starting out with a new building, so naturally I jumped at the chance Something about being able to save a piece of history fascinates me. This building dates back to the 1920s. I spent countless hours at the library, heritage society and archives trying to locate its past. After a year of looking at the loading dock, which is where Barcelona is located, I knew what had to be done. I had fallen in love with the second floor, the original chicken wire windows, with its low iron beams and old world brick. It became exciting to reinvent the space.”

“I told everyone it had potential and then went to work on it, fast and furious you might say, and six months later we opened. The building had no water, electricity, air conditioning and almost every wall is crooked. So it never was a boring day and everyday different than the one before. So the last two years has flown by. Barcelona was formed from a variety of ideas and has truly culminated into a wonderful place full of ambiance and heart.”

And since Gonzalez has always been a creative person, her career spanning working in the fresh flower business and special events to media buying and set design, it was only natural for her to become intimately involved in the decor and theme of Barcelona.

“Through my prior work I was extremely fortunate to meet some very talented people and I worked with them to create this concept,” she said. “I loved the original form of the building with its long rectangular spaces and I decided I wanted to blend modern pieces with some wonderful, classic antiques. And I love the color red, so it is used throughout the space. The entire renovation project was meticulously done, creating the perfect environment to sit with friends and family, enjoy a meal, hear some wonderful music and just relax. It has such a nice feel and I have to say that it takes my breath away every time I come through the door.”

Barcelona’s two floors combine a variety of spaces offering something for patrons of all ages.

“We have a lovely outdoor patio area for enjoying the sun year round, a 25-foot-long old-fashioned wooden bar for drinks, a wine cellar, dining space with a stage and the second floor is where we host events with in-house catering,” Gonzalez explained. “We wanted a place that appeals to everyone. So often you visit a restaurant and you see it attracts just one age group or type of person. Barcelona is for everyone and we can provide a perfect venue, the perfect ambiance for a wide variety of events on any budget including wedding receptions, baby showers, art shows or private mixers.”

She says that as with any new creative venture, the business continues to evolve into its own.

“We started out serving tapas, which is usually a smaller portion, but our menu is continually evolving to include tastes of Spain and our border region – you are getting a little bit of Spain, but with a Valley twist,” she says with a smile. “We really like to focus on the heritage of our region and culture, which is why we went with the tagline ‘Is Spain In Your Veins?,’ paying tribute to the fact that many of us in the Valley, including me, have a strong Spanish heritage. It’s part of who we are and what better way to celebrate that than enjoying its food and culture at a place like Barcelona?”

With Barcelona successfully coming into the Downtown McAllen spotlight, what is Gonzalez’s advice to her fellow entertainment entrepreneurs?

“Don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done. Find a great bank to back you and surround yourself with people that have knowledge,” she concluded. “You must get opinions from experts on your concept and really think about how they will impact your overall game plan. If you believe in your concept and see it through, it will be well worth the effort.”

For more information about Barcelona and its offerings visit www.barcelonamcallen.com.

The Rapid Response Manufacturing Center is fortunate to have several engineering student assistants working on projects.  Of the group, three are very talented women.  Their current or completed projects have spanned the gamut of manufacturing from taking a concept from an inventor, fine tuning it and delivering a prototype medical device to sample tissue from a tumor, to a project to help improve the material flow in a corporate warehouse. The warehouse project was solved by evaluating the current state, and then modifying the flow, storage, and safety of the operation through improvements that can lead to permanent standard operating procedures and policies how employees go about doing their jobs.

Xiong Xiong, one of our female engineering students, has become an expert in reverse engineering.  What is that?  It is when you need to make a part, but do not have any specifications or prints to produce it.  She can take the part and using our hand-scanning capability, she scans and creates a file that can be transmitted to the customer, or to a machine to produce a part.  She has pushed the limits on this equipment, and is now capable of scanning and producing prints for parts smaller that the supplier of the scanning equipment advised was possible.   She also has pushed the limits of the hand-held scanner by developing additional aids and devices to assist in the scanning process.  The process is so unique that it may have some serious intellectual property implications.

Beatriz Padilla  has worked on a medical device that an inventor had, and made several improvements in the initial idea. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it soon may be marketable as a new biopsy device.  This same individual is currently involved in a project that will deliver tissue samples from a surgeon to an analysis lab in such a manner that a doctor can get definitive results prior to ending the surgical procedure.  This new method of transmitting tissue and returning lab analysis results may result in the future in the elimination of additional surgeries.

Maria Salazar is involved in understanding the current flow of material in a corporate warehouse, and helping to ensure order, by identifying and striping rows, adding material storage racks, and identifying the need for bulk storage.  The company she is using as an example moved into the present location without much planning, and they literally started storing items where there was empty space.  This is a current project, and we need to make sure that we get a before and after picture, not only for our records, but also for our client.  Sometimes things are started without much planning. If your company is in a similar situation, we can help get your operation organized.

Another female student is not on the technology side, but Perla Gonzalez is equally appreciated and comes from the College of Business.  She maintains our website, keeps our news current, and makes sure that our presence is active and timely on Facebook.  She is our marketing person, and she helps the outside world know about us and our mission.

Unlike other units at the university, our customers are not students; rather our audience and primary customers are businesses and industrial partners. For more information, see our website at: http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/cose_home/rrmc_home.