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Defeat Diabetes Month

By Marci Wright, UT Health East Texas

Are you over the age of 35? Are you overweight? Do you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or a family member with diabetes? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be at risk for developing diabetes. The good news is that diabetes can be prevented. April is Defeat Diabetes Month and here are five simple tips to help you do just that.

Employee Spotlight: Jennifer Rummel, Market Vice President, Human Resources

As we celebrate Healthcare HR Week, we highlight the career journey of Jennifer Rummel, who recently was promoted to Market Vice President of Human Resources. Healthcare HR Week — the third week of March — is designated to recognize human resources professionals in healthcare organizations across the nation for their important role across the continuum of care.
 

Employee Spotlight: David Knowles, HR Director

As we celebrate Black History Month, we’re spotlighting our caregivers, the diversity they bring and the difference they make at UT Health East Texas.

David Knowles approaches his job as a human resources director much like a team sport, focusing not only on the individuals, but also on the team as a whole. 

Knowles’ time as a star football player in Hondo, Texas, and then briefly in the NFL playing for the Houston Oilers in the 1980s, taught him the value of team dynamics early in life, and those lessons learned on the field have carried throughout his career. 

Service dog provides emotional support for UT Health East Texas EMS

Emergency responders often face high levels of stress daily, which is why UT Health East Texas EMS/AIR 1 is trying to counter that stress with a new member among the ranks.

Apollo Wiggins, a 34-pound Labradoodle, started coming to the office with his owner, Kristi Wiggins, clinical coordinator and flight nurse for EMS and AIR1 in October as a way to help EMS employees decompress and deal with the stress they face on the job.

Heart patient meets EMS crew credited with life-saving response

Curtis Cason was sitting in bed talking to his wife when, at age 43, his heart unexpectedly stopped beating. Through the efforts of the UT Health EMS dispatcher who coached his wife through CPR, the ambulance crew that arrived on scene and the cardiac team that cared for him at UT Health Tyler, Cason was able to walk out of the hospital just over two weeks later.

“My heart just stopped,” Cason recalled of that December night. “The last thing I remember is me and my wife at home discussing Scriptures out of the Bible, and she later told me I slumped over and couldn’t breathe.”

Clinic Manager Furthers Education and Career with UT Health East Texas’ Tuition Assistance Program

After completing her Bachelor of Science in healthcare management, Rachel Villanueva, pediatric clinic manager for UT Health East Texas Physicians on Fifth Street, was planning on finally relaxing after earning her degree, several years in the making.

“I thought I was done with school,” Villanueva recalled with a chuckle just days after applying for a master’s of health administration program at The University of Texas at Tyler. “I was like, ‘When this bachelor’s degree comes through, I am done!’”

UT Health East Texas Physicians in Quitman family physician retiring after 40 years of service to Wood County community

Quitman, Texas — After more than 40 years practicing medicine in Quitman, Dr. Beverly Waddleton will start the new year in a new way — retired.

Waddleton officially retires Jan. 1 after four decades treating patients in her hometown of Quitman.

 “It has been a very rewarding 40 years,” she said. “I look back now and some of the things I did seem almost surreal now.”

Waddleton said the desire to become a physician struck her the summer after she graduated high school.