La Costa Medical Center
History
Sanatorium San Roque is the healthcare institution that gave birth to La Costa Medical Center and its modern facilities in 2005.
Sebastian Avila, ex-medical director of La Costa, started working in this center in October 2007 until December 2013. The medical center was a maternal and childcare clinic, mainly focused on pediatrics and gyneco-obstetrics.
With time, the sanatorium gained popularity and a position in the market. As a result, their approach to medicine transformed until becoming a complete clinic which embraced and responded to healthcare needs.
This transformation included major redesigns and improvements in different areas such as offices, emergency room, expansion of specialties, the integration of imaging improvements and an increase in quality and quantity of medical personnel.
"Today is a highly comprehensive and complex sanatorium, with excellent healthcare services," says Avila. At present is a private medical center in Paraguay that handles a high amount of daily surgeries (about 35 to 40), they work with almost all medical specialties and integrate patient care through its outpatient clinics.
Medical Staff
Nurses and doctors at La Costa Medical Center have ongoing training in their 33 medical centers, which are divided into three areas: pediatric, women and specialties. They renew their knowledge through conferences, educational activities, learning abroad and internal training.
Some of the continued medical education topics are: basic and advanced resuscitation for physicians and therapists, neurophysiology classes, CPR, etc. Experts who teach these subjects come from abroad, or are local personalities with exemplary careers in medicine.
Competitive Advantages
La Costa Medical Center, Sanatorium San Roque and the insurance company Asismed are three of the biggest companies that comprise Grupo San Roque.
Three pillars that govern the company are: human resources, equipment and infrastructure. Training of human resources is considered fundamental, complemented by technology and a unique infrastructure.
La Costa Medical Center aims to follow the same international hospital standards handled in power countries such as United States, London, Spain and Brazil, while incorporating the latest technology. "It's about providing the highest quality of healthcare with the resources available," says Avila.
Some important advances that La Costa inaugurated are:
• Burn Center: with specialized nurses and doctors in the care of critically ill patients. The center also has a hydrotherapy and balneotherapy room.
• Developments to the Cancer Center: composed of specialist in this branch, specific infrastructure (laminar flow) and stock of oncology drugs.
• Cardiovascular Center: with trained personnel and modern equipment.
• In imaging, La Costa was the first private center with a 1.5 Tesla resonator.
• Their unified electronic medical record integrates on a single platform all medical information of a patient.
"We always aim to innovative medical services with high quality," says Avila.
Technology
With a growing market that is searching for the best medical treatments, La Costa Medical Center incorporated state of the art equipment in their offices, adapted diagnostic imaging systems, installed a new 1.5 Tesla resonator and a hemodynamics team; they also redesigned their emergency room with a box area for more detailed queries and satellite diagnosis systems including radiography, ultrasound, etc., which significantly improve patient flow.
Among their recent technological developments is a unified electronic medical record, an innovative system in Paraguay that allows the physician to associate everything a patient has done in Sanatorium San Roque and La Costa Medical Center. "Studies, consultations, hospitalizations and all in a unified electronic medical record, saving time and paper consumption," says Avila.
Responsible Activities
San Roque Group’s civil responsibilities include using recycled paper and the reforestation of large areas by planting trees to allow sustainability.
New Developments
Constant improvements have forced La Costa Medical Center to expand their service range. One example is the new emergency room with diagnostic studies and a box area to observed patients.
"We are in constant motion, always looking to develop new services and structures," says Sebastian Avila, former medical director of La Costa Medical Center.