Texas is tackling health care worker shortages, but the Valley has no seat at the table

In November, Texas lawmakers are expected to have in their hands a new resource guide to improve statewide collaboration by identifying and addressing local health care workforce needs. 

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) appointed 13 members to the Healthcare Workforce Advisory Board, which held its first meeting on June 25. 

The appointees are meant to “represent a strategic cross-section of the educational and healthcare sectors” across Texas. 

They include two-year college executives in San Antonio, four-year college directors in Austin and San Angelo, workforce development boards in El Paso, Corpus Christi, and Lubbock, as well as six statewide representatives of hospitals, medical associations, and community clinics. 

The group, however, does not include a health care system, an educational institution, workforce development organization or community clinic active in the Rio Grande Valley. 

While El Paso is a U.S.-Mexico border community, it is located about 780 miles away from McAllen, or about a 13-hour drive. Likewise, Corpus Christi is about 160 miles or a 3-hour drive from Brownsville. 

And there are health care systems active in the Rio Grande Valley and other Texas markets, such as Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville and Baptist Health System in San Antonio. 

For example, Valley Baptist Medical Center even operates a vocational nursing school in Harlingen, and has been doing so since 1957 with more than 1,600 graduates over the past 65 years. 

The private education and health care sector is already the largest employer by far across the Valley’s two largest metro areas: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Brownsville-Harlingen. 

That sector in McAllen accounts for 98,000 jobs and grew by 3.5% over the year — which led job growth for the entire area. In the Brownsville metro, that sector grew less than 1% over the year and accounts for 46,800 jobs there. 

In 2025, there were 7,163 licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) living across the Rio Grande Valley, including 4,278 in Hidalgo County, 2,365 in Cameron County, 360 in Starr County, and 160 in Willacy County, state records show.

Across the Rio Grande Valley, there are more registered nurses — about 12,485 in total — compared to the El Paso and Corpus Christi markets. 

By comparison, there were 11,097 registered nurses living in El Paso and 5,187 registered nurses in Nueces County. 

Across the Rio Grande Valley, there are 12,485 registered nurses — more than the 11,097 in the El Paso area and the 5,187 in Nueces County, according to state records. 

Of the Valley’s total, 7,986 live in Hidalgo County, 3,936 in Cameron County, 441 in Starr County and 122 in Willacy County. 

About 76% of registered nurses in Hidalgo and Cameron counties worked full time in 2025, compared with 73% in Starr County and 74% in Willacy County. 

Roughly one-fifth worked part time or had an unknown employment status, while unemployment ranged from 4% in Starr County to 9% in Willacy County.

The appointed advisory board was created in accordance with state law passed in 2025 – House Bill 3800. The bill was spearheaded by State Reps Angelia Orr in the Dallas Fort-Worth area and Joanne Shofner of Nacogdoches and State Sen. Kevin Sparks of Midland. 

The Texas Workforce Commission acknowledged that the board lacked representation from the Rio Grande Valley and that board members were appointed “in accordance with the requirements established by HB 3800.” 

“We recognize the Rio Grande Valley is an important region with significant healthcare workforce needs. While the current membership includes individuals from several regions across Texas, the advisory board’s focus is on addressing healthcare workforce needs statewide, including those in the Rio Grande Valley and all other regions of the state,” the state workforce commission said in a statement. 

The Rio Grande Valley Partnership, an industry-led organization tasked to improve the Valley’s political representation at the state and federal level, told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal it was not asked to offer any individuals for nomination. 

“We certainly recognize the importance of ensuring the Rio Grande Valley has a voice in statewide discussions regarding healthcare workforce development and look forward to learning more about how regional stakeholders may be engaged as the board’s work progresses,” the Partnership said in a statement. 

Paco Sanchez, the Partnership’s CEO, said that while the Valley isn’t represented on this advisory board, his organization has strong relationships with some board members, including the executives from the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Dental Association. 

Also, South Texas College’s Jayson Valerio is serving on a statewide advisory committee tasked with implementing four newly approved laws meant to strengthen the Texas health care workforce. 

Valerio is STC’s regional health care liaison and was tapped by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission as the only Valley representative for the laws meant to improve pathways for nursing. 

He was also active in discussions about rural health care transformation in Starr County several months ago, and for the past 20 years, he has been a registered nurse, a nursing educator, and the former dean for the Health Science Professions at STC. 

In 2024, Valerio was appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to serve on the first Texas Health Care Workforce Task Force. The group created 18 recommendations to improve the health care industry – four of which were enacted into law in 2025. 

One of the laws stipulates that professionals are required to repeat coursework when continuing their education despite holding a national certification. 

“Workforce projections show that the Rio Grande Valley is expected to be one of the regions most impacted by the nursing shortage through 2036,” Valerio in a news release about his appointment to the other advisory board. “We must strengthen collaboration between educational institutions and clinical sites to ensure we are not only producing nursing graduates, but also expanding the faculty and clinical capacity necessary to sustain growth.”

The 13 appointees of the newest committee include: 

• Two-Year Institution of Higher Education:
  • Eve Rodriguez, RN-to-BSN Program Executive Director at San Antonio College
  • Michelle Marburger, Vocational Nursing Director at Blinn College 
• Public Four-Year Institution of Higher Education:
  • Amanda Cochran McCall, Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel at the University of Texas at Austin
  • Doug Fox, Associate Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer at Angelo State College
• Local Workforce Development Boards:
  • Art Garza, Workforce Solutions Borderplex 
  • Michelle Lozano, Workforce Solutions Coastal Bend 
  • Dean Diersing, Workforce Solutions South Plains 
• Statewide Hospital Organizations:
  • John Henderson, Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) 
  • Travis Richmond, Christus Health 
• Statewide Healthcare Professional Organizations:
  • Clayton Stewart, Texas Medical Association 
  • Susan Baumbach Ross, Texas Dental Association 
• Statewide Community Health Center Organizations:
  • Elizabeth Howard, People’s Community Clinic 
  • Glen Robison, East Texas Community Clinic