Texas Border Business –
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
It was Ramiro Garza, the Edinburg City Manager who opened the press conference session at the Edinburg Conference Center to talk about the Hospital District designation in Hidalgo County. He said, “The Healthy Hidalgo County Campaign was formed to support the creation of a Hospital District notice Preposition One in Hidalgo County this fall.”
He indicated that the Hospital District will help fund the newly created University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Medical School and indigent health care for the county poorest residents. He also said that the Rio Grande Valley is one of the fastest growing regions in the State and in the country but this community faces new challenges when it comes to health unit and creating a hospital district is an essential step towards achieving transformative change in this region.
To start off local leaders that have been involved from the beginning in helping to pass legislation that eventually led to a location of the medical school in our region were present to take questions from the media.
Ramiro Garza said, “Mayor Richard Garcia has led the charge with other mayors of this county and this region and ensuring that our communities are represented and that there’s a voice for the communities in support of our health care of our region.’
Mayor Richard Garcia said, “I am honored to be here standing in front of such distinguished group. On November the 4th voters in this county are going to decide whether to create a hospital district, and I want you to know that the city of Edinburgh whom I represent is 100 percent behind this endeavor and we are holding hands with everyone else who is.”
Mayor Garcia also said, “I think most of you will know that this was a long and hard fight to get a medical and even some of it was long and hard fight on the medical school. All of that is behind us. We are united but we are positive in moving forward.”
He also announced that it was no secret that Cameron County is going to seek to create a hospital district in Cameron County.
Mayor Garcia said, “We know what our problems are here. The hospital district will help us produce doctors that are residents sorely needed. It’s no secret that we are in an area that has the largest number of person without health insurance. We have the largest amount of obesity; the largest amount of diabetes in the nation and that with our population growth you know is going to escalate.” He said, “We can address all these problems with the new medical school and the hospital district working together.”
He said, “By voting yes to the Hidalgo County Hospital District we’ll be making an investment for today and for tomorrow which will improve health. It will do what most of us strive for all the time is to create jobs.”
In addition he said that the area is very lucky to have the growth and the job creation. He said, “We anticipate that there will be at least 2,300 jobs in the medical field created in connection with this. That means high paying jobs, jobs that will increase the quality of life for all of us in the valley.”
He also emphasized that with the approval of the Hospital District this is going to be a game changer completely. “We used San Antonio as an example. Twenty-five years ago San Antonio was in the same position demographically, population-wise that we are today. When they got their medical school it changed their lives completely. It was not the Spurs that changed San Antonio. San Antonio is now number in the state of Texas and number seven in the nation. That’s what we can expect to see here,” he finalized. TBB
