EDINBURG, Texas – If STHS Children’s in Edinburg was officially designated a Children’s Hospital it would garner additional resources to further enhance pediatric care in the Rio Grande Valley.
South Texas Health System, which owns STHS Children’s, is urging local residents to write to their state lawmakers in order to secure such a designation.
STHS points out that STHS Children’s serves thousands of children annually, but has not yet been granted the “Children’s Hospital” designation through state licensing.
The health system has created a “Voter Voice” form on its website that allows Valley residents to “take action now to improve healthcare resources for children in the Rio Grande Valley.”
The page has a ready-made letter for residents to sign and send off to their state representative and state senator.
Here is the ready-made letter:
License STHS Children’s as a Children’s Hospital
I write today to express my support for South Texas Health System (STHS) Children’s to be officially designated by the state of Texas as a “Children’s Hospital”. With its history of providing high-quality, needed care for children in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), STHS Children’s deserves this designation.
STHS Children’s is a proven entity. The hospital has proudly served the RGV as the only facility dedicated to acute pediatric care with the region’s only emergency room just for kids since opening its doors 17 years ago.
This hospital means so much to so many patients and their families. And with increasing healthcare needs in our growing community, we need the hospital to continue to expand its services.
Over the years, STHS Children’s has provided care for more than 300,000 children and their families. STHS Children’s offers pediatric subspecialty services in the community, including pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric intensive care, pediatric orthopedics and spine care, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric neurology, pediatric infectious disease, pediatric ear, nose, and throat, pediatric anesthesia, pediatric nephrology, and pediatric cardiology. Access to these services close to home has helped families balance the healthcare needs of their children with the economic realities of keeping a job.
I support legislative efforts to help STHS Children’s secure its designation as a Children’s Hospital which will enable additional resources to further enhance pediatric care in the RGV. STHS chose to serve South Texas pediatric patients while others stayed away, and STHS Children’s has grown to look like the state’s other children’s hospitals. Similarly, its Texas Medicaid reimbursement should fairly recognize the cost of pediatric care and support STHS Children’s in its continued expansion of programs and services.
Please support South Texas Health System Children’s – thereby supporting the health of our younger generations in the RGV.
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