Childress VA Clinic moves to new, larger location

CHILDRESS — Amarillo VA Health Care System held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the new location of the Childress VA Clinic on May 9.

“We are excited to open this new location for our Childress area Veterans,” said Rodney Gonzalez, M.D., Amarillo VA Health Care System director in a news release. “The improvements and additional space will continue to provide outstanding care for our area Veterans who deserve no less.”

The new Childress VA Clinic is located at 2305 Avenue F, NW, Ste. 900 and provides 3,000 square feet of administrative and clinical space for eligible Veterans to receive health care.

Veterans, community stakeholders, and congressional representatives attended the ceremony, which was followed by a resource fair with staff from various services and programs, including VA health care Eligibility & Enrollment, Suicide Prevention, Women’s Health, Whole Health, and the PACT Act.

“During my time in Congress and as a Veteran myself, I am committed to ensuring Veterans have access to the critical care that they need, especially in rural areas like my district,” said U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo. “I am glad to see the VA prioritize Veterans in Childress with the opening of this brand-new outpatient clinic.”

Leadership at Amarillo VA expect the new Childress VA Clinic to bring a new level of care to Veterans in the eastern Texas Panhandle, continuing their commitment to provide world class health care to Veterans.

The Amarillo VA provides Veterans with health care services at five locations serving northern Texas and eastern New Mexico. Facilities include Thomas E. Creek VA Medical Center in Amarillo, three community-based outpatient clinics in Childress, Dalhart, and Lubbock, Texas, and one in Clovis, New Mexico. Find a VA health facility near you and manage your health online.

Hill's Sport Shop reopens with celebration Saturday

After a two-month closure to retool and reset, Hill’s Sport Shop is excited to announce their grand reopening. An event was held Saturday, May 20 at the store, located at 4021 Mockingbird Lane.

The ‘new’ Hill’s Sport shop will introduce Amarillo to the newest innovations in every facet of cycling and bicycling accessories, and a staff that is well-known in the Amarillo bicycle community. Of particular focus will be the fast growing revolution of electric bicycles (e-bikes).

At the grand reopening event, the public was invited to enjoy lunch, celebrate the Hill’s reopening, and experience the largest selection of bicycles and accessories in the Texas panhandle.

The transition of the Hill’s incredible 59-year-old business from the Hills family to the Fairly family is partly a labor of respect and appreciation for what Gene Hill, and later Kirk Hill, created. “I think Amarillo will be surprised at what we’ve accomplished in the last 60 days”, said BC Sternenberg, the new general manager of Hill’s Sport Shop. “It is an incredibly state-of-the-art bicycle shop with very thoughtful leanings to the familiarity of what the community loved about Hill’s Sport Shop.” Says Christian Fairly, “The Fairly Family is honored to carry on the Hill’s Sport Shop legacy.”

For more information call (806) 355-7224.

TTUHSC professor gives presentation at ACOG meeting

More than 1 million people experience menopause every year in the United States, according to the National Institute on Aging. Menopause and the time leading up to it, known as perimenopause, can cause a variety of symptoms such as hot flashes, low libido, weight gain, sleep issues, vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse and mood swings. These symptoms, for the most part, are due to either a fluctuation or a drop in hormone levels. Treatment of these menopausal symptoms with hormone replacement therapies (HRT) began in the 1940s; the first high-quality clinical trials on HRT and chronic postmenopausal conditions were started in the United States in the 1990s.

Robert Kauffman, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) was selected to present May 20 at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Baltimore. His presentation, “Non-FDA-Approved Postmenopausal HRT in Clinical Practice. Is it Safe? Is It Ethical?” examines the safety and benefits of hormone replacement therapy for symptomatic menopausal women. It also investigates the large market of non-FDAapproved formulations that have been promoted as safer or more effective than conventional products despite little or no evidence to support such claims.

“There are multiple dosages and formulations of estrogen, testosterone and progestins which have been approved by the FDA and produced by pharmaceutical companies under strict FDA oversight that cover purity, efficacy, bioavailability and safety,” Kauffman said. “Nevertheless, many practitioners prefer to prescribe customized doses and formulations of hormones that are not subject to rigorous clinical trial study to prove that they are at least non-inferior to FDA approved and supervised products.”

Kauffman, a certified menopausal practitioner by the North American Menopause Society, has followed the world literature on BHRT for more than 20 years. Kauffman said more than 40 medical organizations, including the American Medical Association (AMA), ACOG, North American Menopause Society, the International Menopause Society and the Endocrine Society, strongly recommend against the use of compounded bioidentical hormone products except in two very narrow cases: when an allergy exists or when a specific dose is not available in FDA approved products. He said both of those cases are rare.

Rankings place TTUHSC among top 7.9% worldwide

In its 2023 edition of the “Global 2000 List by the Center for World University Rankings” released April 26, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) ranked among the top 7.9% of 20,531 universities worldwide for 2023.

TTUHSC achieved an overall score of 67.4 for an overall world ranking of 1,618. The university was ranked 287 among U.S. universities and 323 regionally, which includes U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities.

“To be recognized on the world stage and to achieve these rankings is tremendous for our university,” TTUHSC President Lori Rice-Spearman, Ph.D., said. “The rankings reflect the innovative and collaborative approach we foster that provides our graduates and faculty a foundation on which they can build success.”

In addition, TTUHSC was ranked as the 1,548th best university worldwide for research performance. The CWUR research performance rankings comprise 40% of a university’s overall ranking and are measured by: research output (total number of research articles – 10%); high-quality publications (total number of research articles published by top-tier journals – 10%); research influence (total number of research articles published by highly-influential journals – 10%); and the number of highly-cited research articles citations (10%).

“We are extremely proud of this global recognition of our strong research performance,” TTUHSC Senior Vice President for Research Lance McMahon, Ph.D., said.

For more World University rankings information, visit https://cwur.org.

Donate joy with every cup: Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Day returns on May 23

As temperatures rise, Dunkin’ is giving guests an extra reason for getting their iced coffee fix this May. America’s favorite coffee chain today announced the return of Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Day this Tuesday, May 23. On this special day, guests can make their coffee run count, as $1 from every iced coffee* sold at participating Dunkin’ locations will be donated to the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation.

The Dunkin' Joy in Childhood Foundation, created to bring the simple joys of childhood to kids battling hunger or illness, is dedicated to making a difference. With 100 percent of funds raised on Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Day going towards local children’s hospitals nationwide, the money raised in each community will help these hospitals expand their impact, bolstered by the support of the Foundation.

“Our commitment to giving back is stronger than ever, as countless children across the country face illnesses that no child should endure. That’s why the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation and Dunkin’ teamed up again this year to create our own Iced Coffee Day, pouring our hearts into every cup and bringing joy to kids in need,” said Victor Carvalho, Dunkin’ Franchisee and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation. “Guests who purchase an iced coffee on May 23 will be sipping with a purpose and supporting kids in their own communities. We look forward to helping our guests bring a little extra joy with America’s hardest working iced coffee!”

In 2022, Dunkin’ Iced Coffee Day raised $1.8 million for the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation, which was granted to 93 local children’s hospitals across the country.

To learn more about the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation, visit www.bringjoy.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To stay updated on the latest happenings at Dunkin’, visit DunkinDonuts.com or subscribe to the Dunkin’ blog to receive notifications at news.dunkindonuts.com/blog.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo business news and developments for May 21, 2023