For Xhail Pavia Garcia, working in the UTMB Clear Lake Campus Hospital Emergency Room is an everyday reminder not to take life and good health for granted.
Garcia acts as a point of contact for Emergency Medical Services calls that come into the ER.
“Every day I come to work, I hope to be a valuable asset to the ER team and help the flow go smoothly, whether it’s starting IVs, assisting with trauma orders, helping the nurses with various tasks or anything else that I can do to make things easier for others,” Garcia said.
To ensure seamless transition from EMS to the care team, the UTMB Clear Lake Campus Hospital ER added Garcia’s position to answer and direct EMS calls 24 hours a day. The addition is meant to keep EMS crews from waiting on hold and to expedite getting patients assigned to rooms appropriately, Nurse Manager Adrienne Escobedo said.
"This gives EMS someone with a medical background to talk to,” she said.
Freed from answering phones, the nursing staff can more fully concentrate on patient care.
“The most interesting thing is taking different kinds of calls and seeing the behind-the-scenes process of paging and what happens next,” Garcia said.
Escobedo said Garcia and the other dispatchers already are making a difference with the challenging logistics that come with emergency care.
“It’s really helping us as we get ready for our Level II trauma designation,” Escobedo said.
Garcia worked briefly in emergency services but received most of her training during military service.
“I was a combat engineer in the United States Marine Corps,” Garcia said. “I have always had an interest in the medical field, and I knew I wanted to do pre-med after my active-duty contract finished, so I looked for ways to enhance my clinical skills while on active duty. We did a lot of combat casualty training that was required for annual and pre-deployment training—that’s where I first learned how to do IVs.”
Garcia credits her two brothers with toughening her up in her early years.
“Since I was little, I had this mindset that ‘if he could do it, I could do it too’ and I did,” Garcia said. “I took this mindset with me throughout my time in the Marines. You kind of have to in this male-dominated institution.”
Garcia’s 17-month-old daughter, Vivian, has inherited her mother’s attitude.
“She climbs everything and if she falls, she gets right back up and tries it again,” Garcia said. “She loves being outside and loves her puppy, Mattis.”
Garcia said she sometimes finds the pediatric cases in the emergency room difficult.
“I’m a new mom, so it’s a little emotional, but that makes it even more rewarding,” Garcia said. “The most important thing to me is being the best mom I can be to my daughter and making sure that she is healthy and happy.”
Garcia’s always aspired to a medical career, and her training guided her interest.
“My last year of active duty, I enrolled in an EMT course on base at Camp Pendleton,” she said. “During my 12-hour clinical rotations at the ER, I was able to experience the fast-paced ER environment for the first time and I was able to assist with several interesting cases and traumas.”
Fun fact: Garcia’s first name, Xhail, is Mayan and is pronounced Shy-el. Most people say Ex-hale.