Press Releases

Tyler, Texas (July 11, 2024) — UT Health East Texas EMS CEO John Smith was promoted this month to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, a rank putting him in the top 1% of all of those enlisted in the military. 

U.S. Air Force leaders from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana were in Tyler on Thursday to present Smith with a certificate of promotion at a surprise ceremony at UT Health East Texas EMS headquarters.

Athens, Texas (July 9, 2024) — Emilee Drozd, RN, recently received the DAISY Award for outstanding patient care at UT Health Athens. 

Emilee was nominated for the award by a former patient and her husband, who wrote in the nomination letter that, “God used Emilee to serve my wife and I through the delivery of our miscarried baby boy. God had his hand on the entire process and used his child Emilee to assure us that everything will be OK. We will be forever grateful for her.” 

Tyler, Texas (June 27, 2024) — Every year, thousands of people are injured badly enough after fireworks-related incidents to require medical treatment during the July 4 holiday, with children and young adults suffering many of those injuries.

While the majority of these injuries resulted from amateurs attempting to use professional-grade, homemade or other illegal fireworks or explosives, less powerful devices such as small firecrackers and even sparklers also can cause significant injuries. 

Jacksonville, Texas (June 27, 2024) — UT Health Jacksonville has collaborated with the Josie King Foundation to provide care journals to patients to further enhance patient safety. UT Health Jacksonville is also the first hospital to include a QR Code on the journal for patients and loved ones to easily access their providers, specialties and other information right on their cell phone. 

Henderson, Texas (June 26, 2024) – UT Health Henderson is now offering an acute withdrawal management program, which is an inpatient, hospital-based three- to five-day medical detox available to adults requiring medical management of withdrawal symptoms from alcohol and/or opioids. 

Tyler, Texas (June 24, 2024) — UT Health East Texas today announced the launch of virtual nursing across its hospital network. Partnered with care.ai, the UT Health East Texas virtual nursing program is the first in the region. 

TYLER, Texas (May 14, 2024) – UT Health East Texas today announced that UT Health Quitman and HealthFirst have been selected by Modern Healthcare as two of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. The complete list of this year’s winners, in alphabetical order, is available at ModernHealthcare.com/bestplaceslist. Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring a ranked list of all the winners along with the October 14, 2024, issue of MH magazine.

Henderson, Texas (May 1, 2024) — UT Health Henderson earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog. Leapfrog assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over 30 measures of errors, accidents, injuries and infections as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent them.  

Pittsburg, Texas (February 26, 2024) —  UT Health East Texas installed a new CT scanner at UT Health Pittsburg to better meet the needs of its clinicians and patients.

The new CT scanner, Revolution Maxima, builds upon a powerful platform with core imaging technologies and provides everything needed to get to the right diagnosis the first time. It improves the exam quality on patients with hardware (such as joint replacement), decreases patient breath hold times and reduces time in the scanner.

Carthage, Texas (February 23, 2024) —  UT Health East Texas installed a new CT scanner at UT Health Carthage to better meet the needs of its clinicians and patients.

The new CT scanner, Revolution Maxima, builds upon a powerful platform with core imaging technologies and provides everything needed to get to the right diagnosis the first time. It improves the exam quality on patients with hardware (such as joint replacement), decreases patient breath hold times and reduces time in the scanner.