Install slot machines to help Holy Cross Hospital?
For 20 years, I was a labor and delivery nurse in large metropolitan hospitals.
Since 1996 I have been a licensed massage therapist, for four years providing massage to patients at Holy Cross Hospital as a member of the CARE Team, until it was eliminated in January of this year. I am aware of the financial difficulties of maintaining quality services at small rural hospitals.
On a Tuesday early in September, I was in the emergency room of Holy Cross with a friend who was experiencing symptoms of a stroke. On display was a rushed but first-rate successful effort (under time constraints) led by Dr. Linda Lynch.
The staff worked relentlessly to assist each other to get the patient through the protocol for the clot-busting drug, administer it, and get the patient on to a helicopter to Albuquerque.The patient was home by Friday with minimal deficits from the stroke.
Please be familiar with the signs and symptoms of a stroke. Almost anyone with a beating heart may suffer one. Don’t wait for symptoms to improve. It is critical that you get help as soon as possible.
Two days after this experience, I read in the
that, for the past year, pueblos in all of New Mexico had received (net) revenue of $756 million from slot machines only. Taos Mountain Casino had revenue of $7.7 million from slot machines in 2017. Ponder those numbers. To whom do I speak about the installation of a plethora of slot machines in every waiting area of Holy Cross Hospital?