Medical blog » Vote

Final Hospital Vote Set For Feb. 3

admin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:56:47 +0000

“We have looked at this and looked at this and looked at this,” said Supervisor
(D-Sugarland Run). “It’s time to vote. It’s time to take action.”
The unanimous decision to schedule a vote came after the Board of Supervisors, meeting as a committee of the whole, spent more than two hours questioning county staff members and representatives of HCA Virginia, the company that wants to build the hospital. They asked, among other questions, whether the Broadlands location would be consistent with the county’s comprehensive health services plan and whether HCA would build a helipad.
It was the latest move in a battle that has raged for years and has split the community. Hundreds of residents have weighed in on the issue in recent months at public input sessions and in e-mails, phone calls and meetings with board members.
HCA, a for-profit health-care network, wants to build a 24-hour acute-care hospital, which would be called Broadlands Regional Medical Center, on a 57.7-acre site at Dulles Greenway and Route 659. The project has the support of the county Planning Department’s staff and a certificate of public need from the state health commissioner. The county’s Planning Commission recommended approval of the hospital in November.
A similar proposal by HCA was rejected by a previous Board of Supervisors in 2005.
Opponents say the hospital should be built along Route 50 in the Dulles South area, contending that the county’s comprehensive plan calls for Loudoun’s next hospital to be there. The opposition includes officials with
in Lansdowne, which is about five miles from HCA’s proposed site in Broadlands. They have said Inova’s services will suffer if HCA opens a facility in such close proximity.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Supervisor
(I-Blue Ridge) asked how the current HCA proposal differs from the one rejected by the previous board.
County planner Van Armstrong listed several differences, including the removal of a proposed helipad, HCA’s adoption of an environmentally friendly design and construction program, increased transportation improvements and more community input. HCA took the helipad out of its plans at the request of residents.
Burton also sought an interpretation of a comprehensive plan amendment, approved by the previous board, that opponents of the Broadlands hospital have cited. He asked whether the provision dictates where the county’s next hospital should be. Cindy Keegan, a county planner, said the amendment was intended to provide “some direction and policy guidance” but did not call for the hospital to be built at a specific location.
In response to another question from Burton, Armstrong said several health-care facilities have been proposed or approved in the Route 50 corridor. He said a special exemption was granted to Inova last year for a health-care campus on an 80-acre parcel that would include a 113,000-square-foot hospital, although Inova has yet to seek a state certificate of public need for the project. He also listed HCA’s plans for health service centers in the Route 50 area, including an emergency department that would be built in tandem with the Broadlands project.
(D-Dulles) asked County Attorney John R. “Jack” Roberts whether the board had the authority to direct developers to build a project somewhere other than the site they were seeking in their land-use application. Roberts said it did not.

Northville Twp. residents to vote on plan to buy old hospital land

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:50:06 +0000

The Northville Township Board of Trustees will ask residents to approve a millage so it can purchase most of the 414-acre former Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital for $23.5 million and preserve much of it as parkland.
The property owned by REIS Northville was the focus of an annexation controversy last year when REIS sought to have the property annexed to Livonia in hopes of getting approval for an $800-million commercial and residential development. Livonia voters defeated the ballot measure in August.
Township Supervisor Mark Abbo said REIS was open to selling the property because of the downturn in the economy.
“We have a 30-day due diligence period to finalize a transaction and then proceed to a millage request of our voters to fund the purchase price,” Abbo said.
Under the agreement, REIS would keep 70-95 acres of land with the remaining 319-344 acres owned by the township.
Other details include cutting area zoned for development by 50% and saving trees.
The cleanup of contamination on the site would be funded by the REIS-owned part of property through a brownfield program.
“Throughout the annexation process and still today, residents have called upon the board to find a way to limit the density on the property and to maintain as much green space as possible,” said Sue Hillebrand, Northville Township clerk.
“This agreement does just that, and the voters of the township will have the opportunity to vote on the best way to move forward.”
.

Democrats set vote to expand kids' health plan

admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:27:10 +0000

Monday, January 12, 2009
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, eager to score an early session victory and to give President-elect Barack Obama a high-profile bill to sign by Inauguration Day, are set to vote this week on legislation that would give medical coverage to millions of uninsured children.
Democrats had wanted to pass an almost $800 billion economic-stimulus intended to prime the slumping economy, a move that would have boosted their public image as a party of action.
But as work on the package slogged and the Democrats’ self-imposed deadline for passage slipped to February, party leaders – fearful of being tagged as ineffective – now say they will call for a vote Wednesday or Thursday on a long-stalled measure to increase funding for the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.
The Democrat-controlled Congress twice in 2007 passed measures to expand SCHIP, only to have their efforts thwarted by a veto from President Bush. But with Mr. Obama supporting the proposed expansion – along with many congressional Republicans – the measure is destined to finally pass.
“I think they think it is a pretty easy win,” said John Fortier, a congressional expert with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning Washington think thank. “I’m not saying that they want to do health care incrementally, but I think they do see some [health care] pieces that can be done earlier, and they’re just going to do them.”
SCHIP, a federal-state grant program, subsidizes the cost of insuring children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.
Mr. Bush vetoed the Democrat-crafted SCHIP expansion, saying it was too costly, would cover some adults and children in middle-class families and would be paid for in part with an increase in the federal cigarette tax.
Many congressional Republicans in 2007 also opposed the measure because they said it didn’t provide enough assurances that the poorest children eligible would be covered first and provided insufficient safeguards to ensure money wouldn’t be spent on people who are ineligible, including illegal immigrants.
But with Democrats holding an overwhelming majority in the House and sufficient Republican support expected in the Senate, the bill will face few obstacles on its way to Mr. Obama’s desk once he is sworn-in as president Jan. 20.
An overhaul of the nation’s health care system is one of Mr. Obama’s major priorities for 2009. The man he has tabbed to lead the effort, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle, has been a longtime proponent of major provisions of the president-elect’s health care reform strategy, including some form of universal medical insurance coverage.
Mr. Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat and former Senate majority leader, faced few tough questions before a Senate health committee confirmation hearing Thursday, paving the way for his expected confirmation.
A quick SCHIP victory also would give Democrats confidence and momentum to tackle big-ticket items such as the economic-stimulus package and a comprehensive health care reform package.
“The same idea always makes sense, and that is: Pass something quick just to show you have some mojo and then worry about something else,” said James Pinkerton of the New America Foundation, who worked in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
The Clinton administration used a similar tactic during its push for universal health care coverage soon after coming to power in 1993. Capitol Hill Democrats early in the year ushered through the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows an employee to take unpaid leave for a family member’s serious health condition, as a prelude to the administration’s proposed health care reform.
The recipe is by no means a guarantee of success, however, as the Clinton administration’s health care plan was shot down by Republicans later in 1993.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said Friday that this year’s SCHIP measure will be almost identical to the version that died on Mr. Bush’s desk in 2007, which called for adding about 4 million children to the 6 million already served by the program. The expansion at the time would have cost an additional $35 billion for five years for a total of about $60 billion.
SCHIP program was to be paid for in part with a 61-cent tax increase on a pack of cigarettes.
But Democrats may be forced to scale back the 2009 version, as the pending economic-stimulus package and last autumn’s $700 billion Wall Street bailout have strained the federal coffers, said some Democratic aides privately Friday.
The program’s costs also have increased in the past two years. And with cigarette sales slumping, new revenue sources would be needed to expand the program to the levels specified in the 2007 proposal.

South Lee County Mailbag: Vote to reverse course

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:52:30 +0000

America! We have reached the cusp of the abyss. We, as Americans, have the power to act and reverse this course.
At this defining moment in our country’s history, America must rise up and take decisive action. It is our right and our duty! The stakes have never been higher! Verify your registration and make sure you know where to vote!
Please give your support and assistance to anyone who would like to vote but does not have the means to get to a voting booth.
The results of this election will determine the fate of our nation for decades and generations to come.
Let us never look back in regret to realize that we did nothing when our country needed us most.
McCain is married to the Bush/conservative view of economics that rewards the rich population of America with tax breaks and ignores the rest.
Through their purchases, the non-rich middle class contribute a great deal more to the nation’s economy.
McCain’s proposed health plan would provide $5,000 refundable tax credits but it ignores the fact that the average family health insurance cost in 2007 was $12,000. And if employers chose to pay that share of a worker’s compensation as wages rather than benefits, the income would be taxable.
McCain’s close friend and economic “mental recession, nation of whiners” adviser Sen. Phil Graham routinely turned down SEC’s requests for more money to police Wall Street. In 1999, Gramm was able to push through banking deregulation/oversight bill – the cause of today’s economic crisis.
Yet, McCain maintains his stance on deregulation, albeit, I’ll go after “Washington corruption.”
McCain doesn’t get it. If you leave the cookie jar open, there will always be those who will take whatever they can.
Did I hear Barack Obama say he and Michelle are still paying off their college loans? At their ages?
Our son stayed at home after graduating from a private college and worked two jobs until his loans were paid off. Our third child paid her first two years of a public college with her baby-sitting money.
I remember reading years ago of the professor with a doctorate, teaching at Stoney Brook University, N.Y., who had not paid any of his loans. Shame on him! And shame on the government official who did not “garnish his paycheck.”
Do these people think they are entitled to get a degree on the taxpayers’ money?
As parents, we were more than happy to help our four children. Today, I might be a rich retiree instead of a poor one if we had salted that money away.
Many middle class parents we knew chose not to help with the higher education of their children.
I believe the college loan system today is failing some of the needy students.
Is that because hundreds of thousands of dollars have never been paid back?
I discovered recently that potential candidates for a contractor’s license are allowed to take their books to their licensing exam. All the way through kindergarten and graduate school no one takes their books to their tests.
It seems the state of Florida subscribes to the overshadowing urban legend that anyone in the trades is just too damn stupid to pass the test for their own chosen trade without their books available. It is a disservice by the state of Florida to assault trades people with disrespect at the fundamental level of their learning. Bringing your books to the test means simply that you are not required to know the material in those books. You are required by law to be able to read.
The state has a licensing program whose creation and purported purpose is to offer quality and competency from those trades people who build and work in our homes. The contractor licensing program encourages people to cheat; not to gain the knowledge and to be the best they can be.
Contractor Educational Services is an industry based solely on the financial prospect of making a profit by assisting trades people to pass their contractor’s licensing tests. Essentially, these companies have a good knowledge of what will be on the exam and they pass this knowledge on to the individual trade’s person by explaining what to underline in their books that they get to take to their tests. Between the State of Florida and the Contractors Educational Services the trades person is encouraged to cheat and is charged a hefty fee to cheat. And possibly we are all charged and cheated by the inadequate work done on our homes.
Finally, the continuing education required of licensed contractors by the Contractors Licensing Board requires a licensed contractor to pay Red Vector $60. Red Vector is another lower institution of learning which takes the $60 and requires the contractor to go online and play with their mouse for 15 minutes.
M. H. O’NEAL
Picking up the tab, again
According to the article “Lee County businesses struggle to insure staffers,” Sept. 25, health care coverage costs have risen 117 percent in nine years. I don’t think inflation, malpractice insurance, rent or employee wages rose anywhere near that figure.
Economics 101 tells me that Wall Street and the overseas owners of much of our health care stock made, excuse the pun, a killing in the manipulation of the market of the U.S. health care industry. You and I picked up the tab again.
The health care industry needs major surgery, and Wall Street needs an enema. The patient needs to be the surgeon because it is suffering from a disease called “greed,” and avarice has taken control of patient needs and serious patient participation.
Over 100,000 families have had to file bankruptcy because one member of the family, including a teenager, had cancer. A national tragedy.
The United States is the only major industrial country in the world that does not have a health system for all of its people. Over 50 million have no health care insurance and have to use the “emergency” room for basic needs because most doctors will not take them because they lack “insurance” not because of illness. Going to the emergency room is the hue and cry of the 21st century.
Another 100 million are “under-insured” so in the major part of the treatment cycle they cannot be seen again because of “health insurance” problems.
Las Vegas gives you better odds than your third party carrier that you really never had a chance to negotiate with when the doctors, hospitals and clinics negotiated for you in your best interest. The patient never has a chance to be at the table with real costs and not phony projections.
Continue your good health because you can’t afford to get sick. Our health care “industry” is out of control.
A new ad on TV lately by the American Medical Association says that they took an oath to treat but cannot see everyone because of the lack of insurance. Need I say more.
Four years ago, I told my 16 year-old son in answer to his question about Iraq: “This is a war we cannot win.” We were in K-Mart at the time, loading up a cart of magazines, socks, and hygiene products to send to Soldiers’ Angels (
), a non-profit organization that supports our troops overseas.
This summer, I was their featured author for my mystery, “Christmas is Murder” (released September 2008 by Midnight Ink Books), of which 15 percent of my royalties go toward rehabilitating servicemen and women wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. While I condone a strategic withdrawal of troops from Iraq, my opposition to this costly war in no way diminishes my pride and respect for the young people who are risking life and limb for our country.
Little mention is made in the media of the tens of thousands of veterans returning from the war with horrific physical and psychological wounds. The average age of these vets is just 23. America owes it to them to ensure they get the best health care through the VA and the opportunity to pursue an education under the New GI Bill, which was co-sponsored by Senator Obama and opposed by John McCain.
C.S. CHALLINOR

Preston faces historic vote on buying Norwich Hospital property

admin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:31:36 +0000

Residents will cast a historic vote Tuesday on whether to buy almost 400 acres of the former Norwich Hospital property, a decision that could have a significant and lasting impact on the town.
“Now it’s do or die,” Preston Selectman Gerald Grabarek said Sunday. “There’s no going back anymore.”
After four years of work, and two once-promising development deals that collapsed, polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a townwide referendum on whether to buy most of the 419-acre hospital site along the Thames River. The town would not buy the former ash landfill on the property, about 30 acres.
If residents vote no, the land would revert back to state control.
If they vote yes, Preston would have to close the sale by Friday and come up with a plan to finance an estimated $8 million to $10 million cleanup of the property within three years. The town also would begin searching again for a developer.
“It’s our future,” Merrill Gerber, a member of the Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee, said of the site. The Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee voted unanimously to support buying the land for $1. The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 in favor of the purchase, with Grabarek against it.
Gerber said the property could be developed in pieces, with some parcels used for functions such as a park along the river.
The site has been vacant since the hospital closed in 1996, but still holds developer interest.
Town officials are considering forming an economic development commission to market the property again. Forming the commission would also give Preston the ability to bond money over a 30-year period, allowing it more time to finance basic environmental cleanup of the water and soil.
Grabarek said he’s afraid the town won’t find a developer and will end up being stuck with the $8 million to $10 million cleanup bill.
“They keep talking about selling bonds,” Grabarek said. “Who knows if anyone will buy them?”
He said the responsibility of the property as a whole is a lot for a town of 5,000 people to take on.
The state spends about $1 million per year for upkeep of the property, including about $650,000 in security, according to last year’s contract between the state Department of Public Works and Security Services of Connecticut.
Town officials said that number could be cut significantly should the town take control — more like $250,000, First Selectman Robert Congdon said during the last informational meeting on the land.
Annual insurance costs are estimated at $120,000. There would be a nearly $300,000 loss in state Payments in Lieu of Taxes money and Mohegan Pequot grant funding from the state by 2011.
Without a developer or revenue, Congdon said the town faces a “worst-case scenario” of a 3 mill tax increase.
The state has offered to cover the costs for one year as incentive if Preston buys the land.
“There have been some very important votes in this town, but this is right up there,” said Mike Clancy, a resident who supports buying the land. Clancy said he has more faith in Preston to make decisions about property in town than in the state.
“I’m really undecided,” said David Krug, a resident who spoke at a recent meeting and was interviewed by phone Sunday. “I’m watching the stock market and it is falling every day. It has never been so bad.”
He said it would be a shame to lose the hospital property; on the other hand, “They’ve had four years to market it and they couldn’t do it in good times. If you were betting in bad times, would you say they can do it?”
Krug said his wife is voting for it.
“If she votes for it and I vote against it, we might as well stay home.”

Bay Area health union seeks vote on membership

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:46:02 +0000

Stern and Sal Rosselli, who until last week was president of UHW, have been in an ugly public dispute over organizing and negotiation tactics that has been unfolding over months.
Stern has said he wants to consolidate local unions into larger, stronger groups that have more sway with employers and politicians. But Rosselli accused Stern of a power grab, saying he sought to replace locally elected union officials with loyal appointees.
Rosselli, who calls the 5-day-old group “New UHW,” said he had not intended to file for recognition so quickly, but was concerned that UHW was pushing to close contracts with employers to keep out the new union. Workers under contract cannot be wooed away until it expires. He said the petitions effectively end bargaining between the employers and UHW-SEIU.
“We’re notifying these employers to prevent them from closing contracts,” Rosselli said. “SEIU no longer represents the workers. They’re no longer authorized to bargain for these workers, because they don’t have majority support.”
Regan disagreed. He said the petitions do not have any effect on contract negotiations, which he said continue on their normal course. He scoffed at NUHW’s contention that he should recognize their representation and abandon work sites where a majority had signed NUHW cards.
“If Sal Rosselli believes we are going to stand back and watch his rump organization weaken the members of UHW, he is beyond mistaken,” Regan said.

Dallas County commissioners to vote on condom ban

admin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:25:29 +0000

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Dallas County commissioners will decide this morning whether to allow county health workers to distribute free condoms in high-risk neighborhoods to combat the spread of HIV.
Before 1995, county health workers routinely ventured into communities to hand out condoms and needle sterilization kits to those with the greatest risk of infection. But that year, a narrow majority of commissioners voted to end the practice, saying it encouraged illegal and immoral behavior.
Commissioner John Wiley Price raised the issue in a December meeting after looking at county AIDS statistics, saying it’s time to admit that abstinence education doesn’t work.
When they enacted the condom ban, commissioners approved regulations requiring county health programs to emphasize abstinence.
Dallas County had the highest HIV rate in Texas in 2006 and 2007, state officials say. Although the number of new cases is down, more people are living with AIDS because of better treatments, county officials say.
County Judge Jim Foster, who supports reversing the condom policy, says he has enough votes to overturn the ban.
“We should have never had it to start with,” he said.
The county health department, the county medical director and the Dallas County Medical Society also support reversing the ban.
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who voted for the ban in 1995, plans to present a substitute order that would allow for limited condom distribution. Under his order, condoms would be given out only after the recipients received counseling about their risky behaviors and were told that condoms are not 100 percent effective.
In addition, under Mayfield’s proposal, county health workers could give free condoms only to high-risk individuals with HIV/AIDS or a sexually transmitted disease, those who have had sex with someone infected with the virus or an STD, and those who have had sex with prostitutes.
Mayfield’s order would ban condom distribution in schools or “any venues where children are present.”
The current version of the order does not stipulate who should or should not receive the free condoms. Foster said he does not support the substitute order, because it limits the ability of county health workers to distribute condoms as a preventive measure.
Mayfield said that all his version does is state which people should get the free condoms because of their risky behavior.
“I think that’s reasonable,” he said.
The county’s Health and Human Services department has issued a report on HIV and AIDS in Dallas County, in which director Zachary Thompson recommends condom distribution as an option.
His other recommendations include encouraging early testing and quality medical care for people living with the disease.
The report said the estimated cost to care for HIV patients in Dallas County in 2007 was $148 million, with public – mostly federal – money used in nearly 60 percent of cases. The lifetime cost of caring for the 749 people in Dallas County newly diagnosed in 2007 is estimated to be $463 million, the report said.
• The rate of infection for new cases is disproportionately higher in blacks. Although they make up just 20 percent of the county population, blacks represented 46 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2007.
• The infection rate among 13- through 24-year-olds has nearly tripled during the past five years.
• More than 13,500 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas, a 35 percent increase in the past five years.
• Men who have sex with men accounted for two-thirds of new HIV cases, while heterosexual transmission accounted for 27 percent of new cases.
• The lifetime cost to treat someone diagnosed with HIV is more than $600,000.
In Dallas County, condom availability is not about money. The Texas Department of State Health Services provides free condoms to the county’s health department, which makes them available in its clinics to those who ask for them.
Thompson said his department has a mobile medical clinic that visits neighborhoods with people who have a high risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. It offers screenings, treatment, testing, counseling and referrals – but no condoms.
By contrast, health departments in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth all distribute condoms as part of their outreach and prevention programs, according to the Dallas County health department.

Hospital bailout vote, and deadline, is Tuesday

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:31:15 +0000

The Clayton County Commission will vote again Tuesday on a $40 million bailout for the Southern Regional Health System.
This is the Riverdale’s hospital last chance to receive financial assistance or risk massive cuts — or possibly closing. SunTrust gave the 331-bed hospital until Tuesday to find $40 million or risk defaulting on a loan.
Last month, the commission voted against backing the hospital, saying it had too many questions and the county’s finances were unstable.
Since then, hospital chief executive officer and president Edward Bonn has resigned and the hospital has agreed to put more money in a reserve account to assure the county doesn’t end up paying the hospital’s debt.
The hospital has also agreed to pay the county back any money it puts up — something that was not in the initial proposal, said Edmund Wall, the county’s financial adviser.
Wall said he was pleased with the changes in the proposal, but said he is still uncomfortable with SunTrust’s 12 percent interest rate.
Although the hospital has promised those changes, County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell said he has not received anything in writing.
“We’re voting on the same resolution we denied before that represented an insufficient number of protections for the county,” Bell said Monday. “My job is to protect the county’s resources while providing it with hospital services. But I still have some serious concerns about the hospital’s management.”
Hospital spokesman Charlie Hayslett said a written proposal has been given to the county.
SunTrust ordered Southern Regional to pay off its loan after the hospital violated several bond requirements, according to a hospital audit. The violations included failure to keep enough cash to operate the hospital for 90 days and not keeping enough money for debt service, Hayslett said.
“All of our debt payments were made on time,” Hayslett said.
The hospital violated the bond requirements because of losing money on investments in the troubling economy, Hayslett said.
The commission will vote Tuesday on a proposal to fire Wall.
The commission hired Wall, the former MARTA board chairman, in October to handle the county’s investments. Wall previously spent about 20 years as a financial consultant for Clayton.
Wall said he has not heard any negative feedback from commissioners and was surprised some want him fired.
“I’m saddened that the new three-person majority of the commissioners don’t want my advice after 20 years of institutional knowledge,” Wall said Monday.
At the time of his hire, some commissioners expressed concern about Wall’s pending public indecency charges. Wall was arrested in March 2007 for allegedly having sex in a Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport bathroom. Wall is scheduled to appear in Clayton County Superior Court Feb. 23.

Opinion: Vote yes on Measure A '” upgrading VMC could be a matter …

admin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:16:31 +0000

As the 19th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake approaches Oct. 17, I can’t help but recall my own experience that day. I remember it perfectly: I heard a loud explosion, the ground started shaking, and my house collapsed on top of me. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive. Luckily, I was freed by neighbors and rushed by helicopter to Valley Medical Center’s Level One Trauma Center. Time was critical. I shudder to think what would have happened if VMC had not been there to take me in.
Voters are facing the same question this November. Will Valley Medical Center be there for us when the next “big one” hits? Santa Clara County voters have the opportunity to say yes to Measure A, which would provide the necessary funding to replace seismically non-compliant hospital buildings at Valley Medical Center Hospital with modern facilities that will remain standing after the next major earthquake — which we all know is coming.
Older Valley Medical Center buildings constructed in the early 1960s and 1970s do not fully comply with the state’s mandatory seismic safety standards and must be replaced. Despite requiring hospital seismic improvements by 2013, the state of California provided no funding. Without voters like us taking action to pass Measure A, this key public health care institution will not have the funds to rebuild these older facilities.
If these building are not replaced, Valley Medical Center will be forced
to eliminate more than 270 hospital beds — more than half of the total beds at the hospital — and close the Level One Trauma Center, Burn Trauma Center and Pediatric Trauma Center because there would be too few beds for patients once they are out of the emergency room. That could put lifesaving care farther way, costing hours or minutes you or your loved ones can’t afford to lose in an emergency.
No matter where you go for your regular health care or which hospital is closest to your home, if you are the victim of a very serious accident or emergency in Santa Clara County, chances are you will be taken to Valley Medical Center. Measure A will ensure those services are available for you and your family when you need them most.
No one ever thinks they’ll need the kind of emergency care VMC provides. I know I didn’t. But Measure A really is critical for residents who needs emergency trauma treatment in the aftermath of a serious accident, fire or natural disaster in Santa Clara County. I hope you and your loved ones will never need the expert care VMC provides in an emergency — but I’m sure glad that VMC was there when I needed it.
Please vote yes on Measure A (for more information, please visit
) — it will very likely be a matter of life and death for you, your family or someone you care about.
Judy Mock resides in Los Gatos. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.

Vote for Chris Johnson for Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week

admin — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:07:35 +0000

recovered a fumble, made two interceptions, three tackles, and two passes defensed
in his first NFL start and the Redskins’ 29 – 24 win over the New Orleans Saints.
led Tennessee rushing for 109 yards over 19 carries and made two receptions
for 12 yards in the Titans’ 24 – 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
rushed for 10 yards on three carries and received six kickoffs including one
98 yards for a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 41 – 37 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
carried the ball 21 times for 164 yards including a 19-yard touchdown in the
Raiders’ 23 – 8 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
finished with 77 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries in the Panthers’ 20
- 17 win over the Chicago Bears.