News in the Amarillo business world: A cutting-edge procedure, Dollar Leave a comment
Cutting-edge bronchoscopy offered at BSA Health System
On Thursday, May 11, BSA Health System performed its first Intuitive Ion procedure. BSA is the first healthcare provider in the Texas Panhandle to use the Intuitive Ion endoluminal system. Ion is used to perform robotic-assisted bronchoscopy to take a closer and less invasive look at suspicious lung nodules. The system can reach all 18 segments of the lungs to obtain a biopsy, allowing for more precision, more reach and more answers.
“Early detection of lung cancer is the result of multiple diagnostic options made available to our physicians,” said BSA Chief Medical Officer Michael Lamanteer, MD, in a news release. “We are proud that BSA is the first in the region to offer this cutting-edge system that enables our physicians to perform biopsies of small nodules within the periphery of the lung, which are not all currently accessible through traditional bronchoscopy.”
Ion is designed to address a challenging aspect of lung biopsy by enabling BSA’s specifically trained physicians new access to small targets deep within the lung. The Ion’s ultra-thin catheter and integrated vision probe provide our physicians with direct vision to reach traditionally less accessible regions of the lung. Its shapesensing technology provides precise location and shape information throughout the entire biopsy process. Ion allows our physicians to perform needle aspiration with a less invasive procedure.
“BSA has chosen the Ion robotic-assisted bronchoscopy system because it provides additional reach, stability, and precision during the biopsy process,” Dr. Lamanteer explained. “We are pleased to expand our lung screening program at BSA, so that our patients may remain close to home and receive the diagnostic answers they need.”
For more information about the lung screening program at BSA, please visit bsahs.org/services/pulmonology.
Two area women win Small Business Administration awards
CANYON – Two local winners were honored in the national Small Business Awards. Amy Henderson, vice president & business loan officer with Amarillo National Bank, was named the Women’s Business Champion of the Year for the West Texas region. Hudson House Canyon, owned by Alyssa Lewis, was named the Woman-Owned Business of the Year for the West Texas region.
America’s SBDC at WTAMU, along with its host, the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business, received the SBDC Excellence and Innovation Center award.
The Small Business Awards are presented annually by the U.S. Small Business Administration during National Small Business Week, this year running April 30 to May 6. Awards for the Amarillo area winners were presented May 3 at the Fairly Group Club in BainSchaeffer Buffalo Stadium on West Texas A&M University’s Canyon campus.
The winners were selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration from qualities including contributions to their communities, success in business, and innovation in services.
“Amy and Alyssa exemplify what it means to be servant leaders,” said Gina Woodward, regional director of America’s SBDC at WTAMU. “They continually work behind the scenes to serve and lift up others in their own work and in their communities.”
For information, visit wtsbdc.com/smallbusinessawards or call 806-651-5151.
Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards more than $840,000 to Texas nonprofits
Goodlettsville, Tennessee – On May 11, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation announced the award of more than $840,000 in literacy grants to Texas nonprofit organizations, libraries and schools. The funds are part of the Foundation’s historical, one-day literacy donation of more than $13 million throughout the 47 states in which Dollar General operates to support adult, family and summer literacy programs.
“It is a joy to celebrate this historic grant announcement during our 30th anniversary year,” shared Denine Torr, executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “For three decades, DGLF’s investment in community programs has created meaningful access to literacy skills for adults, children and families alike and exemplified Dollar General’s mission of Serving Others. We believe everyone deserves the opportunity and access to a quality education, and we look forward to seeing these literacy grants inspire reading and build brighter futures.”
Texas recipients are listed below, and a comprehensive list of grant recipients may be found online at www.dgliteracy.org. The grants awarded to Texas organizations are expected to positively impact the lives of more than 51,000 individuals.
These grants aim to support schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center in implementing new literacy initiatives or expanding existing ones. Funding may be used to purchase new technology, equipment, books, materials, or software to enhance literacy programs.
Learn more about the Foundation’s literacy grant programs online at http://www.dgliteracy.org.
Texas recipients include Dalhart ISD, in Dalhart/Dallam County for $3,000; Literacy Lubbock, in Lubbock/Lubbock County for $8,000; and Catholic Charities of The Texas Panhandle, in Amarillo/Potter County for $8,000.
Amarillo physician, Heal the City Founder Alan Keister awarded honorary WT doctorate
CANYON — The founder of an Amarillo clinic that provides healthcare for thousands of uninsured patients was awarded one of West Texas A&M University’s highest accolades at the May 13 commencement ceremonies.
Dr. Alan Keister, founder of Heal the City, will be presented with an honorary Ph.D. in health sciences from WT’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Honorary degrees offer the university opportunity to recognize excellence in the fields of public affairs, the sciences, humanities and the arts, scholarship and education, business and philanthropy and social services with significant and lasting contributions to community.
Keister said he is “speechless and just humbled, really” by the honor. “WT has such a history as an institute of higher learning and of blessing the Texas Panhandle,” Keister said. “To be honored by an institution like that and to be recognized for work that really has been a labor of love is incredibly humbling.”
An Amarillo native, Keister graduated from Amarillo High School and is a member of the Sandie Hall of Fame. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Baylor University, then graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Vanderbilt University before returning home to start his medical career. Keister founded Heal the City in 2014 to provide high-quality health care with dignity to the uninsured of the region. Originally, the clinic served patients one night a week in a small, converted residence. Today, it operates five days a week in a 20,000 square foot, full-service medical facility in Amarillo’s San Jacinto neighborhood.
The clinic serves acute care patients daily, manages chronic care patients, provides acute dental care and referrals, offers wellness protocols, and operates a full-service pharmacy — all at no cost to its patients. This year, the clinic will serve 8,000 patients and fill almost 38,000 prescriptions, saving patients and institutions millions in healthcare dollars annually.
Oilfield innovator Bruce Thompson to be awarded honorary WT doctorate
CANYON — A farmer-turned-engineering pioneer received one of West Texas A&M University’s highest honors at the May 13 commencement ceremonies. Bruce Thompson was presented with an honorary Ph.D. in engineering from WT’s College of Engineering.
“‘Dr. Thompson’ is going to take some getting used to,” Thompson said. “I’ll probably still be Bruce. I hardly know what to think about this. It is an honor, and I am honored, really.”
Thompson earned his bachelor’s in industrial arts from WT in 1965, before the University had established an engineering program, much less the College of Engineering. After more than 40 years as a farmer and rancher in Hartley, Thompson moved to Granbury to pursue work in the oil field during the boom of the early 2000s. He invented Sand X, an environmentally friendly process that separates oil from sand during fracking, which reduces danger for oilfield workers and saves companies millions of dollars while removing hydrocarbons and chlorides from sand.
Thompson also invented the Super Loop, which reduces virtually all emissions of hazardous gases on well sites, and the Sand L, which evenly and safely dispenses of Sand X-filtered sand. His Sand L team won the 2017 World Oil Award for Best Health, Safety, Environment/Sustainable Development — Onshore, and other inventions also have been recognized by the industry.
Thompson was named a WT Distinguished Alumnus in 2021.
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