Destination: Central Texas
Christina Wood
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Austin, the capital of Texas, has grown into the 17th-largest city in the nation. Photo courtesy of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau. |
Central Texas is a diverse region with a rich history and promising future. The wide-open spaces surrounding Austin and San Antonio provide ample room to harvest new ideas and exciting advancements in technology. Skyscrapers rise above the prairies, music fills the night, and neighbors greet each other with warm tones.
Much of the area is known as the Texas Hill Country, where rivers meander through rolling hills amid an otherwise arid landscape, painting a broad swath of colorful wildflowers in the spring. Austin lies 300 miles from the ocean, but it is surrounded by water. The Highland Lakes, a series of seven manmade reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, cut through Central Texas. Town Lake bisects downtown Austin to provide a lush oasis with more than 10 miles of trails. Far beyond the rivers’ banks and the lakes’ shores, sheep and goat ranches populate the rocky outcroppings and rugged terrain.
If you venture deep into the heart of Texas, as the song says, you’ll find the stars at night are big and bright — the prairie sky wide and high. But these days, from the Texas Capitol in Austin to the streets of Waco in the Brazos River Valley, you’ll find people are singing the praises of the region’s temperate climate, engaging lifestyle, and dynamic opportunities.
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With views such as this, Temple is known as the wildflower capital of Texas.
Photo copyright Mike Crabtree, courtesy of Texas Tourism. |
On duty
When it comes to health care, the heart of Texas is in good hands. Many medical facilities in the region have earned national recognition, including University Health System in San Antonio, which ranked 45th in the nation in the heart and heart surgery category, according to the U.S. News & World Report annual ranking of the country’s top hospitals. University Health System, the public hospital district for Bexar County, also ranked 37th in care for hormonal disorders, 50th in kidney disease treatment, 39th in orthopedics, and 25th in care for respiratory disorders. University Hospital serves as the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and is a Level I trauma center for the region.
Scott & White, a teaching hospital associated with the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center in Temple, also earned top marks. Solucient, a health care information firm, named the facility one of the top 100 hospitals in the nation in a study it conducted. Although Scott & White has been recognized as a Solucient 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospital and a Solucient 100 Top Orthopedics Hospital, 2004 marked the first year Scott & White has been listed as a Solucient 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital.
Less than 100 miles away, the city of Austin boasts four Magnet hospitals, all part of the SETON Healthcare Network: Brackenridge Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Austin, Seton Medical Center, and Seton Northwest Hospital. Research indicates hospitals that have earned Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center are more successful in recruiting and retaining nurses. According to the Texas Nurses Association (TNA), nursing vacancies in larger Texas cities range from 5% to 7%; in Austin’s Magnet hospitals, however, the vacancy rate runs about 4%.
The Austin area is also home to St. David’s Healthcare partnership. St. David’s health group includes North Austin Medical Center, St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Round Rock Medical Center in Round Rock, and South Austin Hospital, which recently underwent a $50 million expansion. South Austin Hospital is also part of Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success, 2004.
The TNA says employers find specialty positions among the most difficult to fill. In Austin, for example, med/surg, OR, and perinatal nurses are in high demand. Federal projections indicate that RN employment opportunities are expected to grow faster through 2008 than the average for all other occupations in the country. And the TNA reports that in Texas, the demand for nurses may outstrip the supply into 2010 or later.
According to a report published in 2000 by the Center for Health Economics and Policy, enrollment in Texas nursing schools had been declining for years. Add to that the fact that RNs are aging and retiring earlier, and you can see the state has been feeling the squeeze. The average age of working RNs in Texas was 38 in 1980, 42 in 1996, and 43 in 2000, according to the TNA. The expected retirement age is 62, but the TNA points out many nurses retire in their late 40s.
The state legislature responded in 2001, passing the Nursing Shortage Reduction Act. Recognizing the national nature of the shortage and the subsequent difficulties that would be associated with recruiting the number of nurses needed to meet the state’s needs, the bill established a strategy designed to produce more nurses. Nearly $26 million was earmarked to increase enrollment in RN programs throughout the state.
The legislature’s seed money fell on fertile soil in central Texas, where nurses who want to advance their education or mentor a student nurse have a wide variety of options. The University of Texas School of Nursing in Austin offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs, as well as an alternate entry master’s degree program and fast-track programs of RN-to-BS/BSN, MS/MSN degree, and PhD/DSN degrees.
Various programs are also offered by Austin Community College, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor/Scott & White School of Nursing in Belton, the University of the Incarnate Word School of Nursing in San Antonio, the University of Texas Health Science Centers in San Antonio, Central Texas College in Killeen, San Antonio College in San Antonio, and Temple College in Temple.
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San Antonio’s Riverwalk is host to many festivals and serves up a wide variety of restaurants and shops.
Photo by Al Rendon, courtesy of the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau. |
Off duty
Civic boosters in Temple will tell you their hometown sits smack dab in the heart of Texas. The Temple Chamber of Commerce reports the city is the demographic center of the state; apparently, 84% of the state’s population lives within three hours of Temple. It may be a small town, but Temple has a big reputation in medical circles. According to the local Chamber of Commerce, the city of about 54,000 has one physician for every 142 people. The whole state, on the other hand, has a ratio of 1:617.
Established in 1881 as a model city built from railroad blueprints, Temple is now a prosperous community that offers small-town warmth along with big-city opportunities and a blooming crazy-quilt of color in the spring, which makes it the wildflower capital of Texas.
Others may hear the heart of Texas beating in Austin, the capital of the state and the live-music capital of the world, according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. As if 300 days of sunshine a year, a dynamic high-tech hub, and a thriving contemporary music scene weren’t enough, Austin is one of the few cities in the country with professional ballet, symphony, opera, and theater companies.
Austin is also the “best city for Hispanics to live in” according to Hispanic magazine’s annual rankings. Forbes.com declares it the “best place for singles.” According to Money, it’s the “best place to start a business.” Travel + Leisure lauds it for having the “best-looking people,” being the “prettiest in spring,” and being the “friendliest” place. And, National Geographic Traveler taps it among the “places of a lifetime.”
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Austin is considered the live-music capital of the world, and you
can hear all kinds of tunes on Sixth Street.
Photo courtesy of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau. |
Of course, if you want to get close to the heart of Texas, you have to consider San Antonio, a bustling, multicultural metropolis with strong ties to the military. As the home of the Alamo, it’s dear to the heart of every Texan and central to the history of the state. Today, the Alamo stands as a shrine and museum in the heart of the eighth-largest city in the country.
Another major attraction in San Antonio is the Paseo del Rio, or Riverwalk, which winds its way through the heart of the downtown 20 feet below street level. This quaint cobblestone and flagstone walkway lies on both sides of the San Antonio River as it flows through the city, its banks lined with upscale restaurants and fascinating and unique shops. The Riverwalk atmosphere ranges from up-tempo to quiet and contemplative, depending on where you’re hanging out.
Waco had its start as a rough-and-tumble cowtown on the Chisholm Trail, according to AAA. Today, the city enjoys an enviable reputation for its educational, cultural, and recreational facilities, including Baylor University, the oldest university in the state and the largest Baptist university in the world. Every October, Waco plays host to the Heart O’ Texas Fair & Rodeo.
The entire Central Texas region is alive with history and lively entertainment options, from the family fun at Sea World and Six Flags in San Antonio to the natural beauty of the state’s hills, lakes, and prairies. Combined with the exceptional educational and employment opportunities open to nurses, Central Texas is well worth exploring.
