By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Sylvia Owens, Texas Community Bank (TCB) regional president for Del Rio, is challenging local businesses to help fund the creation of a local chemotherapy center.
Owens presented a $15,000 donation from TCB to the Val Verde Regional Medical Center (VVRMC) Legacy Foundation as seed funding to enhance its pharmacy. This project will help VVRMC upgrade its infrastructure with the eventual goal of bringing cancer care services to chemotherapy patients in Del Rio.
As mentioned on the VVRMC official website, the Legacy Foundation is a locally-organized and operated non-profit organization focused on preserving the long-term financial sustainability and growth of the hospital. VVRMC and the Legacy Foundation have been working together to find ways to improve the services at the hospital.
In an email, VVRMC Chief Executive Officer Jorge Jurado said the hospital is looking to develop a U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) 800-compliant hazardous drug compounding room and accompanying ventilation hood. This will allow VVRMC to “provide the capacity to safely prepare chemotherapy and other hazardous medications in compliance with national safety standards.”
Owens and members of the Legacy Foundation spoke with The 830 Times at VVRMC on Friday to give more details about the donation. Owens said she is excited for VVRMC and the Legacy Foundation to move forward with the 800 ventilation system project, which is in its beginning stages.
Jurado was also in attendance and talked more in depth about the hospital’s initiative to improve its infusion center. He said one of the objectives is to partner with a health-system entity within the state to deliver oncology services locally.
“At this point, we have been in discussion with a couple of different entities to see who it makes sense to partner with and hopefully bridge the gap (in healthcare). Not everyone can afford to be in a position to travel to receive this kind of treatment,” Jurado said.
Once the project is complete, Del Rio patients can receive chemotherapy and infusion therapy close to home, rather than traveling long distances for every treatment. Jurado said people will still be patients of the other entity while getting treatment at VVRMC.
The entity VVRMC is speaking with right now is University Hospital, an organization that operates hospitals in San Antonio. Although the collaboration is in its beginning stages, Jurado said there is a “lot of synergy and momentum” between VVRMC and University Hospital. He said the donation will help push the project forward.
Owens, herself a cancer survivor, said she would like to see businesses come together and donate to this cause.
“This is a major step and something we need in our community. So I do want to put a challenge out there to other businesses to try and match (our donation) or at least come close,” Owens said. “I think as a community we should come together to say ‘this is a project that is worthwhile that we definitely need within our own community,’ and I’m 100 percent behind it.”
