I am a doctor of emergency medicine at JFK Memorial Hospital and trained at Desert Regional Medical Center and have worked for Hi-Desert Medical Center and I will be voting yes on Measure AA. In 1997 DRMC was deep in debt under the local governments’ management. Fortunately, the hospital was leased, pulling the local health care district out of debt through the lease payments they received. Under professional management over the last 27 years, Desert has established life saving specialty care services, many found nowhere else in the Valley. For example, Desert is home to the only Level 1 trauma center in our area – the next one is 40 miles away. Throughout the lease term, hospital management has invested in critical infrastructure and advanced medical technologies like the Da Vinci 5 robotic surgical system that arrived last week. Voting yes on Measure AA renews the hospital lease and protects Desert from disruptions to care so that we can continue providing critical care that our communities rely on. Please, join doctors like me in voting yes on Measure AA to protect desert care.
Chad Becker, Indio