UTMB women's cancer center reopens in McAllen

McALLEN — A local cancer center the University of Texas Medical Branch shut down last year is open again at a new location.

The new facility — called the UTMB Cancer Stop and Dysplasia Clinic at Renaissance — was opened this month through a collaborative effort by UTMB and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg. The reopening was also made possible with state funding approved earlier this year.

Laid-off employees and ex-patients from the McAllen clinic have sought support for its reopening, staging rallies in front of the closed building and urging legislators to approve funding for the facility.

More than half the rehired staff greeted visitors as they toured the new clinic during a ribbon-cutting ceremony the hospitals hosted Friday.

“I was ecstatic,” staff member Terri Harrington said of the news. “It was a great relief.”

The new clinic, at 620 S. Broadway St., McAllen, is more inviting and spacious than its predecessor, employees and patients noted. The previous facility was housed within El Milagro Clinic, 901 E. Vermont Ave., and its white, barren walls were much less appealing than the home-like atmosphere of the downtown location.

“The other one was sterile-looking — too much white,” Harrington said of the old space. “This one has color. The layout’s better.”

The old clinic was closed Dec. 4, weeks after Galveston-based UTMB conducted massive layoffs as a result of Hurricane Ike. This year, UTMB officials restored and expanded the hospital’s facilities and services using funds approved by the Legislature in the state’s $182 billion budget.

“We’re bringing back a service that was lost to these women,” said Dr. Carlos J. Cardenas, board chair at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance. “This is another example of our vision and the leadership of our team.”

The clinic’s Regional Maternal and Child Health Program first opened in February 1992 to address the need for gynecologic and surgical services in the Rio Grande Valley. The center accepted women referred to it by doctors who considered them at risk of cancer or sexually transmitted diseases.

It also offered free cervical cancer screening and breast cancer screening for some women.

“Some of these women, they just didn’t know where to go” after the center closed, said clinic director Cecilia Hinojosa. “Some just didn’t go anywhere.”

The center often served undocumented teens and women who had no private medical insurance or Medicaid coverage and who might have been rejected for treatment elsewhere.

“Cancer is not the type of illness you can just drop on an emergency room,” said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, who drafted a provision within the state budget that allotted $1 million to reopening the facility. “This gives hope to women.”

The McAllen Democrat recalled being approached by a woman who thanked him for fighting to keep the center open.

“It really touched me,” he said.

UTMB has struggled to rebuild since Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston Island Sept. 13 last year.

The storm caused nearly $710 million in losses to the medical branch, destroying buildings there and killing at least 37 people in Texas.

According to The Associated Press, the storm is the most expensive in Texas history, costing the state $11.4 billion so far.

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Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.

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IF YOU GO

>> What: UTMB Cancer Stop and Dysplasia Clinic at Renaissance

>> Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

>> Where: 620 S. Broadway St., McAllen

>> Services: Cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, referral for mammograms, and follow-up for dysplasia (abnormal Pap smears). Eligible patients may receive a discount based on a sliding scale; Medicare, Medicaid and most private health insurance plans are also accepted.

>> Phone: (956) 686-4224