b'Nursing students in the Texas A&M Corpus Christi programA new, advanced operating room at Christus Spohn Shorelinehospitals operated by HCA Corpus Christi Medical Center, Bay Area and Doctors Re- up with the stunningly fast pace of his surgical work, alternating between side-by-gional Medical Centers. A number of large-scale, specialized healthcare facilities haveside operating rooms. Dr. Tavares fast pace is attributed to his extraordinary ability to opened in recent years in the city, including PAM Rehabilitation Hospital downtown,perform off-pump coronary bypass surgery on the patients beating heart, while the and South Texas Surgical Hospital and Corpus Christi Rehabilitation Hospital on thevast majority of such procedures are performed with the assistance of a heart-lung south side. The city is also home to advanced cancer and radiology centers, a trans- machine, which stops the movement of the heart.plant outreach clinic, and high-quality physical therapy providers. With an ever-growing patient population and continually-expanding hospital A number of highly-accomplished specialty physicians and surgeons practice ininfrastructure, the ability for the Coastal Bends colleges to produce educated, well-Corpus Christi, including in the fields of neurology, cosmetic surgery and treatment,trained and certified healthcare workers is immense. Del Mar College is where thou-orthopaedics, and cardiovascular surgery. One in particular, Dr. Sergio Tavares, issands of nurses and healthcare technicians got their academic start, and Texas A&M recognized within the cardiovascular medicine community as one of the most giftedUniversity Corpus Christi offers four-year and graduate nursing degree programs. heart surgeons on earth. He has performed a record sixteen open-heart, arterial by- Texas A&M Kingsville opened its pharmacy school in 2006 and has prospered in the pass operations in a single day, and employees two complete surgical teams to keepyears since, with over 40% of its graduates going on to practice in South Texas.TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND TOUR+RELO+BUILD GUIDE 75'