Rio Grande Regional Hospital invests $5 million for new McAllen stroke center

Rio Grande Regional Hospital opened a new stroke center in McAllen to provide emergency room patients with immediate imaging and neurosurgical capabilities in the same section of the building, to improve the speed of medical care during a stroke. 

Officials estimated the hospital invested about $5 million in the project, including about $500,000 in renovations to build out a hybrid operating room for neuroendovascular care. 

Inside the new operating room

The new operating room enables surgeons to perform either open procedures or those requiring camera guidance. 

For example, surgeons can now perform neuroendoscopic thrombectomies, an invasive procedure in which surgeons remove blood clots that are causing a stroke. Or a patient could require aneurysm coiling, which is a minimally invasive procedure in which surgeons use a catheter to prevent further brain bleeding. But both methods can be done in the same room rather than in different hospital wings. 

“This space was designed with one goal in mind: to improve patient outcomes,” said Laura Disque, CEO of Rio Grande Regional Hospital and a nurse by trade. “With advanced imaging systems, precision-guided tools, and enhanced safety protocols, we’re now able to deliver faster, more and less invasive procedures, helping our patients recover more quickly and return to their lives with confidence.” 

Often, the cath lab and the operating room are in different sections of the hospital. But when the two sections are combined for stroke treatment, some patients can be treated with one session of general anesthesia and require less radiation exposure with the advanced imaging. 

Meeting a growing regional need

These services are crucial for the Rio Grande Valley, where patients are at a higher risk of a stroke, especially older adults, when compared to Texas and U.S. averages, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. Starr County residents aged 65 or older are at the highest risk, followed by residents of Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo counties. 

“Our Hispanic community suffers a lot from [health issues], so we’re very, very grateful that they have these services in the Valley, and they educate the community as well,” said Cynthia Sakulenzki, CEO of the RGV Hispanic Chamber, who co-hosted the event with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. “Twenty years ago, there were only one, two, or three hospitals for the whole Rio Grande Valley – now there’s a whole community of hospitals.” 

During a stroke, time is of the essence.  

For every minute left untreated, a person can lose about 1.9 million neurons, NIH research shows. 

The new facility at Rio Grande Regional Hospital is just one of several such centers across the region. 

Valley Baptist Health System, South Texas Health System, Knapp Medical Center, and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance all operate stroke centers.  

But sometimes there’s a longer wait for patients when one emergency room is operating near capacity due to other severe cases, which is why hospitals tend to work together, routing EMS drivers with patients to the fastest service, Disque said. 

Outside the emergency room, three different ambulance providers were parked nearby. The goal is to collaborate with all the EMS companies, officials said. 

Over the past decade, Rio Grande Regional Hospital has built up its neurological team from a single person to a crew of specialists, including surgeons, Disque said. 

The hospital also hosts more than two dozen University of Texas Rio Grande Valley students through its internal medicine residency program – including two neurology residents.