April 19, 2024

Congratulations to Magda Borrego, RN, and Kimberly Garza, NP, who have been named 2024 Healthcare Heroes by the San Antonio Business Journal. The two join an elite group of San Antonio health care professionals who have made significant contributions to the community and in the field of health care. Read on to learn more about these two extraordinary clinicians.

Magda Borrego has dedicated her life to serving others. As a child, she volunteered as a candy striper at her local hospital and helped her grandparents collect and deliver food and clothing for the needy. For the past 37 years, Magda has fulfilled her passion for serving others as a nurse in the San Antonio community.

Magda was instrumental in creating the WellMed supportive care program, which provides comprehensive care for patients in their final stage of life. She worked with Dr. Elizabeth Glazier to develop the program, which fills a void in San Antonio.

“Magda has redefined what nursing can be,” said Dr. Glazier. “She started as a case manager and embraced the challenge of developing a whole new way to deliver health care.”

Magda is a true nursing leader. She developed consistent policies and procedures for the supportive care program, and she ensures al staff are trained to deliver the highest standards of care. She is also a mentor to WellMed nurses, and she travels around the enterprise to share her expertise in end-of- lite care.

“Magda is a trusted resource for all WellMed nurses. She is a compassionate and supportive leader, and she is always willing to help her colleagues. In addition to her clinical expertise, she is a gifted educator, providing tools and guidance to help develop others into effective leaders and nurses.

Magda volunteers her time within the San Antonio Catholic community at St. Gregory’s and St. Anthony’s Catholic Schools. She supports a program that has taken on several patients who had poor housing situations. The group has provided major home cleaning and improvement.

The shadow she casts is large, and she helps others develop their own. She is an inspiration to all who know her, and she is well deserving of the Healthcare Hero award.

Kimberly Garza has more than 25 years of experience as a registered nurse and has been a nurse practitioner for 10 years.

Kimberly says nursing is not merely a profession, but a profound calling and an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of others.
One of the ways she has done this is by helping establish WellMed Supportive Care, a home-visiting program for patients in need of palliative care.

Kimberly has also forged deep relationships with WellMed market leaders, the special needs plan care management teams and primary care providers across the market to educate staff on how to identify eligible, chronically il patients and to connect them with the care they need.

Her professional philosophy is shaped by her personal experience caring for her two children with a rare neurological disorder. Garza lost one of her children to the illness
in 2019.

“Though the passing of my son left a mark on my heart, his memory serves as a guiding light, and every interaction with a patient is with the essence of his spirit, a testament to the power of love and unwavering dedication,” she says.

The experience left Kimberly with the belief that through giving, people receive immeasurable blessings. She has found purpose through nursing.

Kimberly has gone on multiple medical mission trips with Optum One World Surgery and regularly volunteers with Meals on Wheels and the San Antonio Food Bank. She also mentors student nurse practitioners and is a preceptor in the nurse practitioner program at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Garza was named Optum Nurse of the Year in 2020 and received the Optum APC Distinguished Partner Award in 2022 and 2023.

With her experience, devotion to patients and commitment to medicine, she embodies the values not only of WellMed, but of nursing in general.