PVCC Puma Press: October 2003

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	AP photo courtesy of Matt York
	Jason Schecterle leads campaign for Prop 414 to save Maricopa County Medical Center.
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Imagine you're at a party and a terrible accident befalls you. The water that's boiling for lobsters somhow gets knocked off the stove and is streaming down the front of your body. Your skin is scorched immediately. As friends call 911, the searing pain feels like it's already reached to the bone. Now imagine having to be flown out of state to get care for your severe burns. When every minute counts to save a burn victim, imagine enduring a 292-mile trip to the closest burn center in Las Vegas.

If proposition 414 does not pass on Tuesday, Nov. 4, and this misfortune were to occur, your trip to a burn center could be as long as 1,067 miles. The next closest burn centers to Las Vegas are in San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City and Dallas.

Jody Kent, spokeswoman for Proposition 414 says, "Jason Schechterle thinks he wouldn't have made it" if the burn center at Maricopa Medical Center had not been there for him.

Scherchterle is the Phoenix Police officer who suffered fourth degree burns on his head, hands and arms when his patrol car was rear-ended in March 2001. Now, the medical center is facing the possibility of closing its doors if the county's citizens do not vote for Proposition 101.

Schechterle is serving as the Chairman of the "Save Our Healthcare—Yes on Proposition 414" committee.

Maricopa's Medical Center houses the state's only burn center treating over 1,600 burn victims each year.

In addition, it's Arizona's second busiest trauma center and has one of only two pediatric trauma centers in the state.

"It's the hospital of choice for Maricopa County police and fire fighters," Kent says.

In 2002 Maricopa Medical Center saw 70,000 emergency room patients, 560,000 outpatients, 23,000 admissions and nearly 5,000 births. The children's trauma center treated almost 3,000 patients last year.

According to the Maricopa Integrated Health System, if the hospital closes, emergency rooms throughout the Valley would have to absorb the approximately 675,000 patients for whom Maricopa Medical Center and its clinics currently provide care. This could cause far-reaching social and economic problems. As it's a federal mandate that every hospital treats any emergency case regardless of insurance coverage, the result of closing the medical center would be longer waits and lower quality care.

Kent says that the county has struggled to support and pay for county hospital and other programs for quite a while. In January and February of 2003 a citizens' task force made up of healthcare experts, doctors and independent citizens met and developed the plan for Proposition 414. A "yes" on Prop. 414 would mean a property tax hike of $21.84 per year per $150,000 assessed value per single family home.

The story about the boiling lobster pot happened to a Scottsdale teacher, Kent says. She says she spoke with the woman who was recently released after a two-week stay in the medical center's burn unit. Kent says she "went on and on" about the quality of the care she received.

Supporters of Proposition 414 include Governor Napolitano, Arizona's Nurses Association, The American Cancer Society, Arizona Medical Association, Professional Fire fighters of Arizona, American Lung Association, and Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, among others.

If proposition 414 does not pass on Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Maricopa County board of supervisors will be authorized to begin the process of closing Maricopa Medical Center.