Austin - State Representative Aaron Pea presented legislation that would create a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley before the House Committee on Higher Education. HB 110 would transform the Regional Academic Health Center located in Edinburg and Harlingen into a stand alone 4-year medical school and health science center.
Representatives Eddie Lucio III and Armando Martinez also participated in the hearing laying out their arguments for a medical school.
The Rio Grande Valley expressed its the need for a medical school with a strong unified voice said Representative Pea. Our communities are one of the most medically undeserved regions in the state and nation. The programs resources and intellectual capital associated with a medical school and health science center would not only transform our economy but increase the capacity for care in South Texas.
Texas has the highest percentage of people without insurance in the nation with nearly 25 percent of the population uninsured. The Rio Grande Valleys uninsured rate is one of the highest in the state at around 33 percent. Hidalgo Cameron Starr and Willacy Counties also lag behind the state average in the number of doctors serving the population. Statistics show that doctors are more likely to practice medicine where they are trained. The closest medical school to the Rio Grande Valley is in San Antonio.
Representatives Joaquin Castro vice-chair of the committee and Roberto Alonzo were two of the members who publicly expressed support for a medical in South Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has now recommended that the next medical school built in Texas should be in the Rio Grande Valley.
This was an important step in the process of take existing programs and resources at the RAHC in Edinburg and Harlingen and elevating them to a full fledged medical school and health science center said Representative Pea. We need the combined resources of the private sector and local state and federal governments to come together and not only build this medical school but create a veterans hospital in the Rio Grande Valley.
In his testimony before the committee Representative Pea lauded the work of veterans to bring a hospital to South Texas. On March 14th Valley veterans and their supporters will begin another march to San Antonio to symbolize the arduous travel that many face in order to receive hospital care at the nearest VA facility in San Antonio. The march will set off from the Sekula Memorial Library in Edinburg at 9:00 a.m.
A veterans hospital and medical school are not competing interests but are quite compatible said Representative Pea. Funding buildings staff and resources can come together to provide care for those brave men and women who served our country and teaching and learning opportunities for our next generation of doctors.
HB 110 now awaits a vote from the Committee on Higher Education before it can proceed. Representative Pea is serving his 4th term in the Texas House.
Austin - State Representative Aaron Pea presented legislation that would create a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley before the House Committee on Higher Education. HB 110 would transform the Regional Academic Health Center located in Edinburg and Harlingen into a stand alone 4-year medical school and health science center.
Representatives Eddie Lucio III and Armando Martinez also participated in the hearing laying out their arguments for a medical school.
The Rio Grande Valley expressed its the need for a medical school with a strong unified voice said Representative Pea. Our communities are one of the most medically undeserved regions in the state and nation. The programs resources and intellectual capital associated with a medical school and health science center would not only transform our economy but increase the capacity for care in South Texas.
Texas has the highest percentage of people without insurance in the nation with nearly 25 percent of the population uninsured. The Rio Grande Valleys uninsured rate is one of the highest in the state at around 33 percent. Hidalgo Cameron Starr and Willacy Counties also lag behind the state average in the number of doctors serving the population. Statistics show that doctors are more likely to practice medicine where they are trained. The closest medical school to the Rio Grande Valley is in San Antonio.
Representatives Joaquin Castro vice-chair of the committee and Roberto Alonzo were two of the members who publicly expressed support for a medical in South Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has now recommended that the next medical school built in Texas should be in the Rio Grande Valley.
This was an important step in the process of take existing programs and resources at the RAHC in Edinburg and Harlingen and elevating them to a full fledged medical school and health science center said Representative Pea. We need the combined resources of the private sector and local state and federal governments to come together and not only build this medical school but create a veterans hospital in the Rio Grande Valley.
In his testimony before the committee Representative Pea lauded the work of veterans to bring a hospital to South Texas. On March 14th Valley veterans and their supporters will begin another march to San Antonio to symbolize the arduous travel that many face in order to receive hospital care at the nearest VA facility in San Antonio. The march will set off from the Sekula Memorial Library in Edinburg at 9:00 a.m.
A veterans hospital and medical school are not competing interests but are quite compatible said Representative Pea. Funding buildings staff and resources can come together to provide care for those brave men and women who served our country and teaching and learning opportunities for our next generation of doctors.
HB 110 now awaits a vote from the Committee on Higher Education before it can proceed. Representative Pea is serving his 4th term in the Texas House.
