CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Driscoll Children's Hospital's Heart Center has some impressive statistics to share as the center has been experiencing rapid growth.
Since 2021, the Heart Center has witnessed a significant increase in cardiac surgeries.
Driscoll Children's Heart Center Director Abby McComb began her career at Driscoll 13 years ago as a nurse and now serves as the director of the Heart Center. She explained that expanding Driscoll's facilities to increase their presence is one of the key factors contributing to the heart center's success.
"We do those complex surgeries here," she said. "There may be the perception that you have to go to Houston, or San Antonio, you know, further north to get those things done. We do all of those procedures here."
The center has experienced an 84% increase in cardiac surgeries since 2021. McComb said that the heart center has continued to grow since the hiring of Dr. Stephen Langly as the Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery in 2019.
"After he had been here for a period of time and we had some surgeries under our belt to show those great outcomes, numbers, and quality measures. Once we started seeing those, we started seeing an uptake in patients," she said.
Driscoll's Heart Center boasts a 98.5% survival rate, surpassing the national average for mortality rates. McComb said that their patients' length of stay is significantly shorter than the national average.
"I think it's just constantly looking at those measures and those outcomes and sharing those with the referring cardiologists and pediatricians and showing them the great things we're doing here in South Texas. So that they can send their patients to us. Instead of sending them further north they can stay closer to home," she said.
McComb also highlighted another aspect that draws families to Driscoll and distinguishes their Heart Center from others.
"I think at Driscoll, you're not just a little fish in a big sea that's going to kind of get lost in the bigness of it all. You're going to know the names of everybody there and their going to know your name," she said.
Since 2021, McCombs has stated that the center has expanded its staff by adding more ICU nurses, nurse practitioners, surgeons, and pediatricians to maintain the delivery of high-quality patient care.
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