Citizens Medical Center is a 344-bed acute care medical complex providing Victoria and South Texas with the technology and medical sophistication of a big city and the personal care of a small town. Citizens Medical Center is, of course, fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and has been since February 1, 1969, receiving the Gold Seal of Approval during the most recent inspection.
Since 1956, this progressive, major Medical Center has helped Victoria earn its reputation as one of the best places to live in America for quality health care. With over 1,300 employees, Citizens plays a major role in the rapidly growing South Texas economy and is the largest healthcare provider in the region.
As a not-for-profit, community-owned hospital, Citizens financial resources stay in the community and are reinvested in the hospital, its technology, and its people. Continuing this commitment in providing the finest diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, Citizens has this year invested more than $8 million in radiographic equipment, radiation therapy, and patient safety.
Our hospital services include an emergency department known for its care of the most critically injured patients through our Regional Trauma Center. Citizens emergency room is also the provider of choice for minor emergencies and transfers from surrounding community hospitals. The emergency room at Citizens Medical Center is designated as the Lead Level III Trauma Facility. Our helicopter service, Citizens Air Medical, provides air ambulance transport of the most critically ill or injured patients to our facility in a matter of minutes rather than hours. When seconds count, experience matters.
Since 1971 -- for over 35 years -- Citizens Medical Center has performed open heart surgery. Known in our community as The Heart Hospital, Citizens is widely recognized for the finest cardiac services in the area and is a major resource for other healthcare providers. The Chest Pain Center began operations in February, 2005 and has seen an amazing total of 2,998 patients presenting to our emergency room with symptoms of chest pain. The Chest Pain Center's protocol-driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce the time between arrival and treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective. Our guidelines for coronary care also enable us to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted. With this streamlined process, patients can be cared for appropriately, more quickly, and less expensively.
Designed for a woman's comfort and confidentiality, the Women's Diagnostic Center opened in January, 2006. Women who have concerns about breast cancer and who may need treatment find in this unique space the privacy and support they appreciate at a difficult and stressful time. From the warm, inviting decor, to examination rooms away from public hospital corridors, the Women's Diagnostic Center is a comforting setting. Offering comfortable S.O.F.T. Paddle mammograms that provide greater detail, the Women's Diagnostic Center provides the area's only Stereotactic Biopsy and performs breast ultrasound, needle localization, and ultrasound guided biopsies. We have more ways to diagnose women, with less stress and greater, individualized care. Digital mammography is an x-ray of the breast used as a screening tool to investigate breast abnormalities and breast cancer, particularly those which are too small to be felt by physical examination. A mammogram can show a developing breast tumor before it is large enough to be felt by a woman, or even by a highly skilled health care professional.
In addition to the typical services associated with a full service, regional healthcare facility, Citizens also includes the Women's Pavilion, the only full service obstetrical and gynecology facility located within a hospital; the Kathryn O'Connor Regional Cancer Center; and wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
