Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/980339
t m c » p u l s e | m a y 2 0 1 8 26 Ben Taub Hospital is currently in the middle of a $250 million renovation that encompasses multiple projects. "We are almost going to be doubling our capacity in the operating rooms, which will be a great thing for our patients and medical staff," said Mike Staley, vice president of operations at Ben Taub and Harris Health System. "When the hospital was built, the code requirement was 400 square feet. Now the smallest a room can be is 600 square feet." During regular rounds this spring, Mattox led a group to an observation dome overlooking the trauma oper- ating room—the same room where RoboCop 2 was filmed in 1989. On this particular day, one of Mattox's many trainees, Matt Wall, M.D., was performing a coronary bypass. "What you see here is an orchestra, a team. Everyone has their particular job to do and everyone knows what part of the operation is next," Mattox said, gazing down on the surgery in progress. "Any teacher … you have to reach the point that you realize you have sired another brain that is another person and your job is to teach the fundamentals, the skills to make judgment, and to move forward and to trust them with your life." Mattox trusted Wall with his life. "In 2001, after being up for about 48 hours, I went to a conference at 7 a.m. and I didn't feel so good," Mattox said. "I thought, 'This may be heart,' so … I decided to go up six flights of stairs to cardi- ology at Ben Taub." Within 20 minutes, Mattox had a coronary arteriogram that showed a blocked artery. Wall was part of a team of doctors that opened him up and performed emergency heart surgery. That teacher-student cycle is as reliable as the steady stream of patients who come to Ben Taub Hospital for care. "The patient population has gotten bigger since I started, but patients a thousand years ago and patients now are the same," Mattox said. "They hurt, they broke something, they drank something they didn't need to drink, they devel- oped an infectious disease …" Patients don't really change, Mattox said, and neither do the people who care for them. "People become doctors because they want to relieve suffering," he said. "And, quite honestly, this kind of practice, this kind of hospital and this kind of community has a mission feel." Mattox peers into an observation dome overlooking Ben Taub Hospital's trauma OR.