Welcome

Welcome to Memorial Health System of East Texas. As the largest health care system in the deep East Texas area, Memorial Health System of East Texas provides care to almost a quarter of a million patients each year. Since its inception in 1949, Memorial Health System has paved the way for quality, innovative health care in East Texas. In fact, our hospitals consistently rank among the nation’s best for exceptional health care and patient satisfaction.

Memorial Volunteer Auxiliary Exceeds One Million Dollars in Donations

One million dollars! The Memorial Volunteer Auxiliary recently surpassed this amount in donations of equipment to Memorial Health System of East Texas and scholarships for students pursing careers in health care. Since 1974, when the Auxiliary was organized, it has raised and donated more than 1.2 million dollars.

The Volunteer Auxiliary made its first donation to Memorial Health System of East Texas in 1979 with an Auto Respirator worth $12,000. Since then, the group has donated items such as Cardiac Monitors in 1983, a Video Security System in 1995, 14 Dinamap Monitors in 2002, beds for the ICU in 2006 all totaling more than $1 million dollars. The Volunteer Auxiliary raises money throughout the year by hosting special jewelry and book sales as well as through Memorial Gift Shop sales.  Read the press release.
 

'Remote presence robot' doctor roaming halls at Memorial

Though not on two legs, a new doctor will be roaming the halls of Memorial Health System of East Texas this summer saving precious time in the treatment and diagnosis of stroke victims.

Cruising around on four wheels at 5-foot-2-inches, 260 pounds, "RP-7" is a wireless "remote presence robot" allowing a physician to be in two places at once. MHSET's RP-7 is one of only 250 worldwide.

Through a partnership with MHSET, doctors from the Methodist Hosptial in Houston will have the capability of "beaming" into the Lufkin hospital, providing quicker more complete care, according to its creator, InTouch Health. InTouch Health describes the technology as "the ability to project yourself to another location and to move, see, hear and talk as though you were actually there." A remote presence robotic system is comprised of one or more "ControlStations" so RP-7 can move untethered, allowing the physician to freely interact with patients, family members and hospital staff from anywhere, anytime.

"This technology will bring in Methodist neurologists to not replace but augment patient care currently available to stroke victims in Lufkin," said Suzanne Monsour, Methodist Hospital stroke program administrator. "Your doctor is not going away — this is just an added measure of patient care."  Read more about it in the Lufkin Daily News.
 

Study Shows Home Healthcare Lowers Medicare Spending

As the President unveils his plan to overhaul American’s health care system, some groups say Medicare dollars can be saved by simply taking advantage of services already available to Medicare patients. A recent study shows that Medicare patients who suffer from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) or congestive heart failure (CHF) actually saved almost $2 billion dollars in health care costs by taking advantage of extended medical care at home. The study, conducted by Avalere Health and commissioned by The Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation, shows that Medicare patients saved $1.7 billion dollars when using a home health agency within 3 months of being discharged from a hospital. The same group had 24,000 fewer re-hospitalizations than similar patients that used other forms of post-acute care (e.g., skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, or hospice) over a two-year period. It was also found that if those in the study group who utilized other forms of post acute care had used home health services an additional $1.77 billion would have been saved. The study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between post-hospital home health use and Medicare spending and hospital readmissions.  Read the press release.


 

Memorial Health System of East Texas
Creates Awareness about Melanoma

With summer upon us and more outdoor activity opportunities, Memorial Health System of East Texas reminds everyone about the importance of skin protection from sunburn and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. Though melanoma is not the most common type of skin cancer – basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma predominate, melanoma is the leading cause of skin cancer related death.

The American Cancer Society estimates that the United States will have almost 69,000 new cases of melanoma and over 8,600 deaths from melanoma in 2009. Read the press release.

Think F.A.S.T.
Learn to Recognize a Stroke

LUFKIN, TEXAS (May 18, 2009)... Although 80% are preventable, it is expected that nearly 795,000 people in the United States will have a stroke this year. Most strokes can be treated if they are recognized F.A.S.T. May is Stroke Awareness Month and Memorial Health System of East Texas is joining the National Stroke Association to raise public awareness about important stroke facts to reduce the incidence and impact of stroke.

According to the National Stroke Association, stroke is a brain attack. It is a type of cardiovascular disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. Stroke can be caused by many risk factors that can be managed such as high blood pressure, weight control, alcohol consumption, smoking, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and transient ischemic attack (TIA). Visit www.stroke.org/RISK for more information and downloadable fact sheets.  Read the press release.

New Cardiovascular Surgeon Offering Many

Firsts for East Texas Patients

Abdominal aortic aneurysms are the 15th leading cause of death in the United States. In fact, even if a patient is fortunate enough to get to a nearby hospital when an aneurysm ruptures, there is only a 50% chance that the patient will survive. But a patient’s chance of survival increases significantly to almost 100% if the aneurysm is discovered prior to rupture. Lufkin’s newest Cardiovascular Surgeon, Dr. Taylor Pickett, is introducing a life-saving technique to East Texans that can help prevent an aneurysm from rupturing. Recently, Dr. Pickett performed the first abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair through this new outpatient procedure that requires no incision or stitches.

The device used is called a Powerlink stent graft by Endologix. Using a long, thin plastic tube, the Powerlink stent graft is inserted through the groin into the femoral artery until it reaches the aorta, the major artery in the stomach. The physician watches the stent graft travel in the aorta by a method known as fluoroscopy which is real time x-ray images. The stent graft is a single fabric tube with a main body that lines the aorta and two limbs that branch to the femoral arteries. Once in place, the graft allows blood to flow through the artery without collecting in the aneurysm.  Read the press release.

Memorial Offering Robotic Assisted Surgeries for Heart, Lung, Kidney,

 Gynecology and Prostate Procedures

Over the course of a month, Inez Cahill began experiencing shortness of breath while walking around the track. She mentioned the symptoms to her physician. After running a series of tests, a mass was detected on her right lung. At 81 years young, Mrs. Cahill made the decision to have her first surgery using the da Vinci High Definition Robotic Surgical System at Memorial Health System of East Texas.

“The robotic assisted right upper lobectomy created quite a buzz in the surgery suite. After all Mrs. Cahill was the first patient to undergo this type of procedure in an East Texas hospital,” said Dr. Taylor Pickett, Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon. According to Dr. Pickett, this minimally invasive surgery results in less bleeding, less pain and a quicker recovery. “Traditional lobectomies call for very large incisions. However, with robotic assisted surgeries, the incision is only 8-12 millimeters in size,” said Dr. Pickett.

“I am doing great! I was even able to walk the survivor lap at Relay for Life,” said Ms. Cahill. “If you are going to have surgery, this is the method to use.” I experienced little pain and in less than two weeks, I began cooking, making the bed and sweeping the floor.”  Read the press release.
 

State of the art:  New hospital facility nears completion

On an average day at Memorial Health System of East Texas, nurses hurry from one end of the hospital to the other transporting patients or running to find medication for a need. By the end of the workday, many nurses collapse at home, exhausted from a long, hard day at work.

Just on the other side of the wall from the bustling emergency room, construction workers wearing hard hats are putting in their own long days in an effort to finish building the $46 million Cardiovascular and Stroke Center of East Texas, a 109,000-square-foot facility going up beside the hospital's emergency room entrance. The workers have six more months to complete the job and much of it is finished.

The center will start out with five floors and a helicopter pad on the roof. But should the hospital need to expand in the future, another three floors can be added.

Terry Elliott, project manager, recently gave The Lufkin Daily News a tour of the new digs in the works. The state-of-the-art facility used all the best practices in design by touring other facilities and getting input from nurses and doctors, according to Elliott. Getting input helped design the best facility for patients and nurses, he said..  Read more about it in the Lufkin Daily News.  Watch the construction in progress on our Construction Webcam.