DHR Health ECMO Program Saves First-Time Mother’s Life

Edinburg, Texas: After suffering cardiac arrest shortly after giving birth, first-time mother Paola Taborda was placed on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, a lifesaving technology that supported her heart and lungs for 13 days. Thanks to this advanced treatment, she recently celebrated both her birthday and her recovery as she reunited with her newborn son, Spencer.

Launched in February 2023, the DHR Health ECMO Program has provided critically ill patients with severe heart and lung failure the chance to heal and live. The ECMO machine continuously pumps blood out of the body, adds oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, and then returns the blood—allowing the heart and lungs to rest and recover. Within the ECMO Program, a multidisciplinary team provides around-the-clock bedside care and supports regional hospitals by coordinating patient transfers or initiating ECMO treatment on-site when necessary.

DHR Health is the only hospital in the Rio Grande Valley with comprehensive ECMO services, ensuring that patients have access to this advanced, lifesaving care close to home when seconds count.

“This program gives patients who would otherwise need to travel outside of the Valley a fighting chance right here in our community,” said Dr. Andrew Phillips, intensivist and medical director of the ECMO Program at DHR Health. “For patients like Paola, ECMO can mean the difference between life and death. Seeing her celebrate her birthday and hold her baby for the first time is exactly why this program exists.”

Today, Taborda is back home with her family, grateful for both the medical team and the technology that gave her a second chance at life.

For more information about the ECMO Program at DHR Health, please call (956) 362-3266 (ECMO).