Coastal Bend Health Education Center announced with locations in Corpus Christi and Kingsville
Dean of the Texas Senate Carlos Truan announces Coastal Bend Health Education Center.		Plans for the new Coastal Bend Health Education Center (CBHEC) were announced Jan. 31 at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The CBHEC presently has two locations, one at A&M-Corpus Christi and the other at A&M-Kingsville. The center will be a joint effort of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Del Mar College, Coastal Bend College and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service. The center's director is Dr. Juan F. Castro, a Corpus Christi family medicine practitioner. The deputy director is Dr. Rebecca Jones, who serves jointly as the director for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at A&M-Corpus Christi. The five initial programs of the center are Nursing; Nutrition/Dietetics; Partnership for Primary Care; Public Health/HERO (Health Education and Rural Outreach) Program; and Communication Disorders. Jones will oversee the Nursing, Nutrition/Dietetics and Communication Disorders programs. Castro is in charge of the Partnership for Primary Care and Public Health/HERO programs.
The Nursing program will help the local nursing workforce advance to baccalaureate degrees and other advanced training through a consortium of area hospitals and colleges. The Nutrition/Dietetics program will focus on problems of obesity and type II diabetes. The Communication Disorders program will begin to address the need for better screening and evaluation of speech, language and hearing disorders in the region. Partnership for Primary Care provides qualified young people from medically underserved communities with guaranteed admission to medical school at the time they enter their undergraduate college institutions with the hope these students will return to their communities to practice medicine when they have completed their medical training. The Public Health/HERO program will focus on providing more health insurance for children in the area. The A&M-Corpus Christi office of the CBHEC is in the Natural Resources Center, Suite 3500. The phone number is (361) 825-2804 and the fax number is (361) 825-2809. Office hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The A&M-Kingsville location is at 700 University Blvd., MSC 216, Kingsville 78363-8202. The A&M-Kingsville hours are Monday 1-5 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Thursday 1-5 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The A&M-Kingsville phone number is (361) 593-2705 and the fax number is (361) 593-2368.