Please use the following media resources if you need information about St. David’s HealthCare.
To schedule an interview with a physician or staff member of St. David’s HealthCare, or any of its five Central Texas facilities—St. David’s Medical Center, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center and St. David’s South Austin Hospital—or to obtain permission to shoot video footage at an area facility, please contact:
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St. David’s HealthCare today announced the addition of Cindy S. Sexton to its leadership team as vice president and chief financial officer. Effective June 1, 2012, Sexton—who has more than 22 years of financial management and leadership experience in the healthcare industry—will lead the financial division of St. David’s HealthCare’s seven-hospital healthcare system, across 60 locations in Central Texas.
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St. David’s South Austin Medical Center was recently awarded the Gold Healthy Hospital Award by Stryker Sustainability Solutions for its waste reduction efforts and environmentally sound health care practices in 2011. The award cites the hospital’s outstanding performance in reducing environmental harm and improving overall hospital quality through medical device remanufacturing and reprocessing.
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Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas (RMHC Austin) is scheduled to open a new Ronald McDonald Family Room at St. David’s Medical Center in June.
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St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center has been designated as a 2012 Texas Ten Step facility by the Department of State Health Services and the Texas Hospital Association. This annual designation is awarded to birthing facilities that provide optimal care to improve breastfeeding outcomes and the health of newborns and infants.
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Recently, St. David’s Medical Center became the first hospital in Central Texas to acquire fluorescence imaging technology with the da Vinci® Si™ Surgical System. This technology offers the capability of providing real-time, image-guided identification of key anatomical landmarks using near-infrared technology. Fluorescence imaging allows surgeons to see and assess anatomy better than the naked eye, further enhancing the unmatched vision, precision and control of minimally invasive da Vinci surgery.
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St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital recently launched a new oncology rehabilitation program, which includes inpatient and outpatient cancer programs, providing patients with access to physicians who specialize in rehabilitative care, nurses and therapists who tailor a rehabilitation program to meet patients’ specific needs. The program ensures patients have immediate access to cancer resources, technologies and treatments.
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On April 16, 2012, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, a St. David’s Medical Center Facility, was included in the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. The hospital was included in the list as a campus of St. David’s Medical Center, which received the designation for the third consecutive year. This is the first year the Georgetown campus’ quality data was included in Thomson Reuters’ evaluation of St. David’s Medical Center for the award.
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St. David’s South Austin Medical Center has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR). MRI is a noninvasive medical test that utilizes magnetic fields to produce anatomical images of internal body parts to help physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions.
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Heart Hospital of Austin is now enrolling patients in the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 study, a clinical trial of the investigational Symplicity® renal denervation system for treatment-resistant hypertension. Treatment-resistant hypertension is defined as systolic blood pressure that remains high (greater than 140/90 mmHg) despite treatment with three or more anti-hypertensive medications.
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St. David’s HealthCare has named Corey Jones, M.D., medical director of the new St. David’s Emergency Center in Bastrop, located at the site of the former Lakeside Hospital at Bastrop. In this role, Dr. Jones will oversee the medical operations of the new center.
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On April 16, 2012, three St. David’s HealthCare hospitals—St. David’s Medical Center, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center—were named to the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.
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On Friday, April 20, 2012, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA) will commemorate National Donate Life Month with a donor drive, featuring activities to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation and registration, at The Dell Diamond in Round Rock.
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Recently, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center began offering transradial access—through the wrist—for heart procedures, which is a more advanced way to access arteries resulting in fewer complications, better outcomes and a faster recovery time for some patients.
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Heart Hospital of Austin recently performed the first successful treatment of a patient using the Safire™ BLU™ Duo ablation catheter. The Safire BLU Duo ablation catheter is the latest in advanced ablation technology, helping physicians treat patients using minimally invasive catheter-based methods to achieve successful outcomes for patients with heart rhythm abnormalities.
Ablation catheters are thin, flexible wires that deliver radiofrequency energy to specific areas of cardiac tissue in order to create lesions, or tiny scars, that interrupt the abnormal electrical signals contributing to heart rhythm abnormalities. The Safire BLU Duo, developed by St. Jude Medical, is an irrigated ablation catheter with dual sets of irrigation ports designed to provide uniform tip cooling and reduce high temperature edge effects, resulting in a safer delivery of ablation therapy.
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On April 11-13, St. David’s Medical Center will simulcast the national TEDMED 2012 conference to the public at no cost through a collaboration with TEDxAustin. TEDMED is the annual gathering where science, medical and technology leaders focus on "imagination, innovation and inspiration" to advance the art of health and medicine. TEDMED is the world's only TED-licensed event focused solely on innovation and breakthrough thinking across all of health and medicine. The conference will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
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St. David’s Women’s Center of Texas, located at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, has expanded its health and wellness services available to women with the addition of the MultiCare Platinum™ and Suros ATEC® Breast Biopsy and Excision System for use under stereotactic (x-ray) imaging.
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St. David’s Urgent Care Pflugerville, a department of St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, has earned a laboratory accreditation by COLA—a national healthcare accreditation organization—as a result of the center’s long-term commitment to providing quality service to urgent care patients.
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This month, St. David’s HealthCare began building the new St. David’s Emergency Center in Bastrop, located at the site of the former Lakeside Hospital at Bastrop. St. David’s HealthCare acquired the former Lakeside Hospital at Bastrop facility in August 2011—after the hospital closed its doors in November 2010. The St. David’s Emergency Center, which is scheduled to open June 18, will serve as an extension of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center’s emergency department.
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On Feb. 15, 2012, physicians at Heart Hospital of Austin became the first in Central Texas to perform a new, catheter-based valve replacement procedure, known as a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), since the technology was approved by the FDA in November 2011. The procedure offers an alternative to traditional, open-chest surgery in some patients.
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Recently, St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital at St. David’s Medical Center began serving as an investigational site for the INSTRIDE clinical trial, designed to compare a device called the WalkAide to a standard brace called an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) in treating patients with “foot drop”—a condition in which patients cannot lift their feet when walking—due to a stroke.