After hearing testimony Aug. 12 from community members, El Paso County Commissioners voted in favor of placing the proposed $396.6 million bond on the November ballot.
If approved, the bond would expand the county’s hospital district including University Medical Center.
Speakers in attendance shared personal experiences and expressed gratitude for the care they received at UMC, and said the bond would mean expanding necessary medical services for the city, county, and region.
Sheri Pellicotte, whose daughter was hospitalized with critical brain trauma from an automobile accident in 2019, expressed gratitude for the care provided by UMC physicians and staff.
Both Sheri and daughter Jaclyn Pellicotte were supportive of the bond in their comments during the public portion of the meeting.
“The investment made in UMC’s critical care unit, cancer care center, and burn unit will pay dividends for years to come, and [will mean more ] lives saved, families kept whole and a community made stronger and more resilient,” Sheri Pellicotte said.
Commissioner Sergio Coronado said that the decision to vote in favor of the bond was a positive thing for healthcare providers and the community, noting that El Paso is now the 6th largest metropolitan area in Texas.
“I think we should be proud of ourselves for being able to do this for our community. It’s a required mandate from the state for us to provide indigent health care, and we are doing a great job, and like a lot of our professionals have stated, we have a lot of needs, and we need to support those resources to make sure that those crevices, those cracks, those gaps, are filled,” Coronado said.
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