Back in June 2017 I Published a photo of myself in front of the plot of land which the RIBERA MEDICAL CENTER now stands in its final stages of completion. Although there have been a few small setbacks the project is near its completion. At this stage we are hiring our nursing staff, administrative as well as operational support staff. My role at this time point in time is overseeing the hospital’s credentialization as well as invitation god the medical community here in the Lakeside are as well as physicians from the Guadalajara metropolitan area. The response was robust and the interest which a few months ago is now was only mild. The peak in interest from the medical community was in large part due to the tours of the hospital facilities. All of the doctors who toured the hospital can now appreciate that this hospital will be able to handle most emergency and surgical cases. In the future we envision being able to do transplant surgeries and make this a Mecca for Medical Tourism. Our hospital will be attracting a great variety of specialists to the area and the need will be almost non-existent to go to Guadalajara for any type of consultation or care.
I have noted that in the last few months as word of our hospital and the recently built San Antonio Hospital will be operating, a good number of doctors have been coming to Lakeside to provide services at least once per month at different medical groups in the area. I have also noted that there will be some medical groups that will be aligning themselves with San Antonio hospital for the majority of their operations as well as moving their base of operations to their medical plaza. QC (quality care) doctors have been approaching doctors from the Chapala Med network to join their group of 40+ specialists but first “investing” or buying into the group prior to seeing their first patient. The latest doctor from Chapala Med they have approached has been Dr. Sergio Mendoza, our neurologist. I personally sought out and vetted Dr. Mendoza based on the strength of his CV, expertise and fluency of the English language (in that order). The criteria of Chapala Med and the RMC hospital will focus on maintaining the level of excellence that we are now recognized for. We will not be asking any doctors to BUY INTO or INVEST in our hospital or practice simply to gain access to our patient base. I don’t believe this is a fair and ethical manner to attract doctors to our team. But we must be mindful that each practice or group has their own way of working and should keep that in mind when selecting your next healthcare provider. Things are done differently here in Mexico vs. the U.S. and Canada, one must remember.
By year’s end the RMC hospital will have brand new fully functional MRI, CT SCAN, Mammography, Blood Bank, Chemotherapy infusion lab, 3 surgical suites and a Cardiac Cath lab, labor and delivery room as well as an ICU, NICU and 14 hospital rooms. The doctors physically at the hospital are those who have completed their residency(specialty) in Emergency Medicine and will have surgeons locally on call 24/7 for any major emergency that requires immediate surgery. Their response time will be no more than 20 minutes to evaluate a patient whom may be an emergency surgical case.
The INAUGURATION/RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY is scheduled for Oct. 2nd, 2020 but we will open to provide care at a later date in October. STAY TUNED for more details on the event with all the SOCIAL DISTANCING measures in place.
The hospital will have physicians on staff but as an OPEN hospital we will allow physicians with their licenses and credentials in order to provide care to their patients in our hospital. I will oversee and make sure that they do indeed do only what they have been trained and certified to do. For example, we will not allow an interventional cardiologist to place a stent in a patient’s CAROTID ARTERY. That is only a procedure that can and should be done by a neurosurgeon with training in vascular surgery. These measures will decrease the number of medical errors and prevent unnecessary procedures from being done at our hospital thereby maintaining the quality and integrity of the hospital.
The landscape of healthcare has changed drastically since I arrived in Nov. 2012. I remember starting with a small office in Chapala at the Hidalgo 293 building. I did not imaging then that in a few short 8 years, I would be practicing at the location where I am located now much less tapped to be the medical director of THE PREMIER hospital @Chapala Lakeside community. I feel blessed to live and practice in such a wonderful place and am grateful for the privilege to provide care to all of you who I count as patients and those who count me as a friend.
Thank you and I hope to continue the community with not only quality care but EXCELLENCE in care at Chapala Med and at the Ribera Medical Center.
|